Time Roulette Go!
by KrazyJoey
Summary: Joey is sent back in time to ancient Egypt and meets Atem. Dragonshipping.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a Dragonshipping Roleplay between me and ofspiritsandpuzzles. I played Joey and she played Atem, and everyone else XD. Posted with her permission.**

...

Atem frowned as he slipped away from Siamun's watchful eyes, making his way into a secret passageway that led down to the dungeons before anyone could notice that he was gone. Though everyone seemed to think him naive due to him only recently ascending the throne in place of his late father, Atem was no fool: he noticed the commotion a few weeks prior, though the guards (as well as his priests, irritatingly enough) seemed keen on keeping the matter from him, and he noticed the periodic trips to the dungeon that Seth accompanied by a few guards would take—yet he had yet to feel the slightest bit of danger.

It just didn't make sense... and so Atem figured if no one would give him the answers he wanted, then he would just have to find the answers himself. With that in mind, he cautiously made his way through the dimly lit dungeon, peeking into the cells before coming to a stop as he caught sight of a man who looked to be his own age, his arms chained to the wall and his body littered with countless injuries.

It was only when the boy's eyes opened and met his own that he snapped out of his horrified daze—he knew he had to grow accustomed to such sights now that he was pharaoh, but this person... he couldn't say what it was, but there was something that told him that this person wasn't someone dangerous—yet if he really wasn't dangerous, then why was he in the dungeons, and in such bad shape at that? Unsure of what to say (or if he should even attempt conversing with this oddly-dressed prisoner), Atem remained silent for the moment—if this person was any danger, then having the pharaoh standing so close by would surely prompt some sort of violent reaction.

Joey stirred slowly from his fitful sleep and blinked up at the figure standing in front of the cell. "Huh, what, who are you? I haven't seen you in here before. You here to torture me more, you damn little bastard?" He pulled at the chains that bond him, but it was futile, they wouldn't budge an inch.

Atem frowned, feeling the slightest bit affronted by the boy's harsh tone (though he reasoned that it was fully justified, judging from his state and the mention of torture). "No, I am not," he began slowly, unsure of how much to say—apparently this person didn't realize who he was speaking to. "I had merely wondered what my guards were hiding from me, and it seems I have my answer." Atem stepped a bit closer to the cell so he could get a better look at the prisoner, inadvertently offering him a better view of himself at the same time.

Joey glared at the shorter boy, trying to gauge if he was like the others, a threat, or not. "If they are your guards, can't you tell them to let me out of here? And you still didn't tell me who you are," he added with a bit of a sneer in his voice.

"I have the authority to, yes, but if all prisoners were released on their word alone, the streets would be flooded with the blood of the innocent. How can I know that you aren't a threat?" At the boy's second comment, Atem couldn't help but frown. "I realize that I was only recently coronated, but I believed all of my people knew the face of their pharaoh by now—it seems I was mistaken, however."

"What the hell, Pharaoh?" Joey was now more awake and started to notice something strange about the young man. "Yeah, wait a minute," he stared closer at Atem. "Yugi? What are you doing down here? And in that get up? And so tan? I didn't even know you could tan, man." He was all around very confused. How could his best friend be here in this crazy place? On the same thought, how could he be here in the first place? It didn't make any sense to the poor confused blond.

Atem blinked, his expression faltering into one of genuine confusion. "I apologize, but I believe you're mistaken... I do not know of any people by the name of 'Yugi'—my name is Atem." His curiosity was now piqued—none of his people would fail to recognize him, let alone confuse him for someone else... _Just who is this person...?_

"Dude, is this some crazy cosplay thing? If it is you really need some help. You don't lock people in dungeons and _torture_ them." Joey was getting more and more confused with each second that passed.

Atem sighed, shaking his head. "It seems as if my guards have done a bit too much damage, if you're speaking of such nonsensical things. "Unless, of course, this man was already insane before being locked up, in which case it would be in everyone's best interest to leave him where he could do no harm—though Atem found this highly unlikely; after all, the boy seemed to be genuinely confused, rather than insane. "Tell me, what is your name, and how did you enter my palace?"

"My name is Joey Wheeler. I was walking home from school and suddenly I was in some big open courtyard. Your goons attacked me and locked me up in here. I did nothing to deserve this treatment!" His confusion was slowly turning into a boiling rage that was hard to contain.

Atem frowned. "You appeared within the palace without going past the front gates—it's only natural that my guards would assume that you were a thief or assassin of some sort. However, I do agree that this treatment is unjust, especially since you were kept here without my knowledge." His frown deepened as he added, "I will be having a word with my guards—and with my priests—later, rest assured."

Atem's expression returned to one of curiosity as he asked, "If I may, however... you said you were 'walking home from school'? What manner of nobility are you, to be receiving education at an institution?" After all, only the rich were able to receive education, yet the boy's clothes (tattered as they were) did not seem to reflect any sort of noble status whatsoever.

Joey raised his eyebrows. That was the first time anyone had compared him to nobility. "Dude, it's the 20th century, most people can go to school. I ain't any kind of "nobility." Far from it..." he laughed humorlessly.

"... 20th century?" Now it was Atem's turn to raise an eyebrow, wondering just how badly his guards had damaged this poor boy's brain. "I'm afraid you're mistaken—the year is 985, and only those with noble status have access to education."

"Dude, you are taking this whole cosplay role playing thing waaay too seriously. I can't possibly be in the past, right? Time travel isn't possible, right?" Joey continued staring at Atem. Suddenly, his stomach growled, very loudly.

"... Time travel...," Atem repeated, mulling the thought over. "It is unheard of, but not entirely impossible. Perhaps—" His train of thought was cut off by Joey's stomach loudly growling, and he couldn't help the amused smile that tugged at the corners of his lips. "I suppose this is no place for conversation—I will release you, on the condition that you do not leave my side while on the palace grounds." After all, he may be able to get him out once, but there was only so much he could do if Joey wandered off and got himself imprisoned again.

"Really? You think I could have a bath? I'm totally wrecked." Joey also needed new clothes, but he didn't want to impose too much after the guy finally agreed to let him out. His stomach growled again. "...and some food?" He tried to hide his blush at sounding so pathetic and needy.

Atem chuckled quietly. "Yes, a bath and food can be arranged, and perhaps a new set of clothing would be wise as well—the state of your attire aside, it is far too... _foreign_ ; you will only end up bringing more attention to yourself dressed in such odd clothing." Now, as for the matter of actually getting Joey out... he could leave to go and find a guard, but even as pharaoh he doubted he would be able to convince any of the guards to let out a prisoner (especially one that the priests were keeping from him, meaning that the guards would probably only take orders from the priest or priests that were in charge of this boy's imprisonment).

 _So I suppose I'll have to go with my second option,_ he thought to himself with a slightly impish smile as he held his millennium puzzle in his hands, already able to picture the lecture he would be receiving from Mahaad for doing this (as well as the not-so-quiet, mischievous approval he would get from Mana). The puzzle's glow illuminated the darkness of the dungeon, which in turn allowed the shadows to take form and slip into the keyhole, resulting in the tell-tale 'click' of a lock being opened moments later.

With that, Atem opened the cell door and stepped inside, eyeing the chains around Joey's wrists with a frown. "Give me one moment and I will have those removed." The shadows moved once more, making their way up to the keyholes on the shackles binding Joey's wrists, and a few seconds later the boy was a prisoner no longer. "Come," Atem instructed, turning and beginning to walk out of the cell. "And stay close—this dungeon is a maze designed to trap any prisoner who attempts to escape, so if you get lost I cannot guarantee your safety."

Joey stared, dumbfounded, at what Atem had just done. "I didn't know the Puzzle could do that..." It was both cool and a little creepy at the same time. "So why is Kaiba here too? He was the jackass doing most of the torturing..." Joey clenched his fists at the memory of tan, oddly dressed, Kaiba's smug expression as he had beaten him. The bastard had obviously enjoyed what he was doing and Joey wanted to make him pay for it.

"You know of the puzzle, yet you claim to be from the future... interesting," Atem murmured, keeping his pace slow so Joey could keep up without aggravating his injuries too badly. "My apologies, but I'm afraid I don't know who this 'Kaiba' you speak of is—what did he look like?" He assumed that Joey was speaking of one of the guards who had given his name at some point, since he had no knowledge of anyone in his palace that went by the name 'Kaiba'.

"You know...Kaiba, the tall asshole who likes tormenting people. He was wearing a stupid pointy blue hat and for some odd reason had the Millennium Rod. I thought that was Marik's, what's he doing with it?" Joey muttered the last part to himself.

Atem frowned at the mention of the Millennium Rod, making a mental note of the fact that this boy seemed to have at least some knowledge of the Millennium items despite them having only just been created during his father's reign. "The one you refer to as 'Kaiba' is one of my high priests, Seth—I do not know who this 'Marik' is, but Seth is the rightful owner of the Millennium Rod. As for the matter of him torturing you... I will be sure to have a _long_ talk with him. I have repeatedly expressed to him that I do not condone such behavior, but apparently he is too prideful to listen," the last part came out as more of an annoyed grumble than a statement.

"How the hell did Kaiba become a priest?" Joey also found it very hard to picture the stiff boy actually owning a Millennium item. He didn't even believe in magic or that they could do anything.

Atem frowned. "Seth became a priest like anyone else-he took the exams, and his scores were the highest that the courts had ever seen." After a moment, he added, "What is this 'Kaiba' like? Because I can assure you that he and Seth are different people."

"He's a huge asshole who runs a game company and has an unhealthy obsession with Duel Monsters, and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon in particular." He grimaced just at the thought of the guy who was always insulting him and would barely even acknowledge him as a duelist.

Atem glanced over at Joey curiously. "'Duel Monsters?'" he echoed in confusion, before turning his attention back to their surroundings as he led Joey down a pathway that was tucked away, one that anyone would walk past had they not known it was there. "We're almost out, just a bit further."

Joey stumbled and almost fell over. "I think all this blood loss is getting to me," he said sheepishly, trying to make a joke out of his weak state.

Atem quickly reached out and caught Joey before he could fall. "Just hold on a little longer," he encouraged, slinging Joey's arm around his shoulders to help him walk the rest of the way.

Joey tried to hold back a blush at the close contact. It was very strange to have the tiny boy be the one to hold him up. "So you're really not Yugi, huh." The concept was finally starting to sink in for Joey.

"I believe that's what I told you from the first time you referred to me with that name," the pharaoh responded wryly, keeping his pace slow as he walked the injured boy towards the exit of the secret passage. It took a few more minutes, but they finally reached the stone wall that served as the cover for the entrance, and Atem struggled for a moment to open it while keeping Joey upright before finally getting it to move, glancing around warily to make sure no one saw them before helping Joey out and closing the passage behind them. "I'll take you to my room, and we can tend to your injuries while a bath is drawn and a meal is prepared," he said, leading Joey through the extravagant palace halls towards his bedroom.

Joey flopped down on the nearest pillow once they entered the room. "God, I could eat a whole horse." He was starving; they had barely fed him the entire time he was in the dungeon.

Atem chuckled—not many people had the audacity to throw themselves on the pharaoh's bed without permission, but Atem was more amused than insulted. "I will be sure to have a large meal prepared for you, don't worry—in the meantime, we should take care of those injuries and get you bathed and dressed."

Taking a moment to leave his room and pull aside a servant, he arranged for a meal to be brought to his room (with no questions asked—one of the perks of being a pharaoh was that there were very few people who would question his orders, no matter how odd they could be) before reentering the room and helping Joey over to his private bathing area. "Alright, now strip and I will clean your wounds, and after your bath I will wrap them to make sure they heal properly." Thankfully he'd had plenty of experience giving first-aid despite being a prince (being around someone as klutzy as Mana required such skills to be second-nature), so this was nothing new to him.

"What? You want me to strip? In front of you? I can take a bath by myself you know, I'm not three years old." Joey was a little taken aback by Atem's command.

Atem gave Joey a flat look. "I cannot treat injuries that I don't have access to, and unless I'm mistaken, we are both male—I fail to see the problem."

"It's just kinda weird, you know. I don't even know you and you're going to see me naked." He really didn't know why he was getting so nervous; people took baths together in public baths all the time. It really wasn't that strange, was it?

"Again, I fail to see the problem—or is it uncommon in your time for people to take baths with other people around?" Frowning, Atem added, "And that aside, you aren't in any state to be taking a bath on your own; you might lose consciousness from all of your blood loss."

"Well, yes and no; depends on the country really." Joey sat up from the bed, got a sudden dizzy spell, and fell back down. "And I can to stay awake," he said weakly. The argument didn't hold much weight after his last action.

Atem rolled his eyes. "Yes, I can clearly see that," he responded dryly. "Now please remove your clothing so I can take care of your injuries and so you can bathe." Though his words were fairly light, his eyes and tone both clearly showed that he would not be taking no for an answer—his words were an order, not a request.

"Well, gosh, your highness," Joey said sarcastically. Even so he started to remove his clothes, starting with his tattered and bloody shirt. Joey winced as the removal of his shirt reopened old wounds.

"I have to wonder if you even realize who you're speaking to," Atem grumbled, completely unused to such brazen disregard of status—it had been amusing at first, but now it was starting to grate on his nerves the slightest bit. When Joey finally obeyed him, he began taking out what he would need to clean out the wounds, kneeling by Joey's side and putting some antiseptic onto a small cloth. "This will probably sting," he warned before running it over the largest of the wounds, frowning in concentration and making a mental note to bring this up with Seth as well—prisoner or not, leaving a person's wounds in such a state was unforgivable.

"What, you someone important or somethin'?" His back arched and he let out a small gasp as the antiseptic did far more than sting. "Hey! That hurts.."

Atem raised an eyebrow. "For you not to know... do pharaohs not exist in your time?" He winced sympathetically. "My apologies—please try and bear with it for a little longer." He did his best to be as gentle and careful as possible as he meticulously cleaned out each and every injury.

"What's a pharaoh? Is that like a businessman?" Joey honestly had no idea what one was. It vaguely reminded him of something he had heard in history class, but he couldn't remember. It wasn't like he paid attention in any class but PE anyway.

Atem smiled in amusement. "A pharaoh is the person who rules over a country—I believe other countries refer to their leaders by different names, like 'king' or 'emperor' if either of those are more familiar terms to you."

Joey stared at him in amazement for a second before shrugging. He immediately regretted the action, cursing under his breath at the pain. "But you're still a human being, same as me."

Atem shook his head slightly, caught between being annoyed and amused. "I don't know how it works in your time or other countries, but here in Egypt the Pharaoh is seen as a god—in other words," he continued, an amused glint in his eyes, "were anyone to hear you say such a thing, it would be grounds for execution, among all the other things you've done and said so far."

"If that's so then why aren't you ordering me executed? You must not think the same way." Unless he was just toying with Joey and was planning all along to kill him; but what was the point of taking care of him if that was what he was planning?

"Just because I could, doesn't mean I will," he responded with a slight smile, setting down the bloodied rag and picking up a clean one before continuing his work. "As you said, I'm not the type to play god with people's lives—even if my people see me as a god, I only see myself as a regular human being just like anyone else." With a more genuine smile, he glanced up from his work to meet Joey's eyes. "You're the first to say such a thing to me—even Mana and Mahaad see me as a prince rather than a person, and they have been with me since we were young... it's a nice change."

Joey really didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't know why, but it was making him blush. What was it about this guy that could do that to him? "Um, you're welcome?" he responded awkwardly.

Atem chuckled, taking note of the boy's blush but not saying anything on the matter. He finished cleaning up all of the wounds on Joey's chest, arms, and back before putting the rag aside and rising to his feet, holding out a hand to help the other boy to his feet. "Come, now let's get you bathed, and your meal should arrive by the time you get dried and dressed."

Joey was still very self-conscious about being naked in front of the spiky-haired boy and was attempting to cover himself the entire time. Still using one hand to hide his privates, he reached out the other to take Atem's hand. Not saying anything, and still blushing, he followed the young pharaoh to the bath.

Atem bit his lip to stop himself from laughing at the boy's attempt to cover himself up, finding his modesty both amusing and oddly endearing. He led Joey over to the bath, which was filled with warm water and organic soap, and helped him into the large tub before picking up a lump of a paste-like substance from a small basin. Working the paste into a lather, Atem began rubbing it into Joey's skin, taking care to be gentle with all of the injured areas as he began washing all of the grime off of the boy.

Having his lower half covered by the soapy water made Joey slightly less embarrassed about the whole situation. "So do you have a girlfriend or something?" he asked, completely out of the blue.

Atem blinked, caught off-guard by the sudden question, before shaking his head with a rueful smile as he continued washing the other boy off. "I suppose I should be taking a wife soon, now that I've ascended the throne, but I'm afraid I have little interest in such things."

"Wife? What are you, 15? That's kinda young. Come to think of it, you're kinda young to be on the throne too." After he said it Joey began to regret it. There had to be a reason why he was a pharaoh at such a young age, and it probably wasn't a pleasant one.

Atem glanced away as Joey spoke, his hands stopping their movement as he fell into thought. "... It was my duty to take the throne in my father's... absence," he responded after a moment, the death of his father still weighing heavily on him despite how he appeared composed for his people. "And as pharaoh, producing an heir is essential—fifteen years of age is old enough to take a wife and produce an heir to take my place should something happen." It wasn't something Atem wanted to think about, but the safety of his country and his people was more important than his own desires and preferences.

"Dude, that's rough. I've never even been on a date. I can't imagine having that much pressure and responsibility placed on me." Joey played with the water absentmindedly, trying to picture himself in the same situation and failing.

Atem chuckled wryly, moving his hands to pick up more of the paste and lather it up before working on washing Joey's hair. "Not many people can-it's a large burden to carry, but I will do what I must for my people." After a moment's silence, he asked curiously, "Are things... different, in your time? Is it really that odd to speak of marriage at this age?"

Joey's head got pulled back as Atem washed his hair, causing him to look at the other boy upside down. "Yeah, most people don't get married until their 20's or even later."

Atem looked at him in genuine surprise. "Really? Even women? Most daughters are married off for dowry by at least fourteen... how different the future must be," he murmured. "It must be nice to not feel pressured to get married, though." He massaged the soap into Joey's hair, secretly enjoying the feeling of running his fingers through the boy's hair, as he continued speaking. "If people aren't required to get married at a young age, then what other options are available for them? Do they live on their own?"

"Well, when they are still teenagers they generally live with their parents and go to school." Joey leaned back further, getting dangerously close to placing his wet head on Atem's chest.

Atem forcibly ignored the slight blush on his cheeks at the close proximity, finding that he didn't mind it in the least, and he instead focused on continuing to wash Joey's hair as he spoke. "You mentioned school before, too... is education really available to all people regardless of status in the future?" Such a concept was pretty much unheard of, or at least as far as Atem knew, so he couldn't help but be surprised by this. "What is the schooling of the future like?"

"Well, this doesn't apply to everyone, but for me, school is... Well, I'm not very good at it, I only really enjoy playing sports and getting to hang out with my friends." Joey was hit with a pang of homesickness at the thought of his friends. He was really beginning to miss them.

"Sports? So what they teach you at school isn't purely educational?" Atem frowned sympathetically, taking note of Joey's homesick expression at the mention of his friends. "This 'Yugi' that you mistook me for—is he one of your friends? What is he like? And what of your other friends, what are they like?"

Joey looked wistful. "Yugi is my friend, I really miss the little guy. And Tristan, and Tea, and Bakura too." He didn't say it, but his expression said that all he wanted was to go home. He quickly hid a single tea that threatened to fall.

Atem remained quiet for a moment, picking and choosing his words carefully before speaking. "... I don't know how you came to be in this time, nor can I guarantee that I can send you home—however, you have my word that I will do everything within my power to find a way to return you to your proper time."

Joey looked up, surprised. "Really? I barely know you. You really do remind me of Yugi, and it's more than just the hair." He had to chuckle a little to himself at that.

Atem smiled slightly. "I am not the type of person to ignore someone in need—and that aside, it's the least I can do after the terrible treatment you received from Seth and my palace guards." He couldn't help but chuckle as well at the hair comment. "If his hair is similar to mine, then it's good to know that the people of the future still have good taste in hair styles," he responded jokingly, moving his hands down to wash Joey's back (while being sure to be mindful of his injuries).

Joey let out a little gasp as Atem's hands got a little too close to his rear. "Hey, watch where you're touching!" He blushed furiously.

Atem rolled his eyes, oblivious to just how far down Joey's back his hands had slipped. "I was merely washing your back; I fail to see what the problem is." Pulling his hands away, he turned to pick up a water basin, rising to his feet with it in his arms. "Now please stand so I may rinse you off."

Joey stood up, water dripping down his nude body. Only now did he notice the height difference between the two. Before he had been partly hunched over and been in too much pain to notice. "You're even short like Yugi."

Atem flushed slightly, his expression indignant. "I am not short," he immediately objected-but such an assertion was empty at best when even standing on his tip-toes wasn't enough to help him lift the basin of water above Joey's head.

Joey laughed, ruffling Atem's hair. "Shorty." He also just now realized that he was standing butt-naked in front of the other boy. There was nothing in reach to cover himself with though so he just stood there, slowly beginning to not care about his unclothed state.

Atem huffed, his blush darkening slightly in embarrassment. "I am not _short!_ You're just... absurdly tall! Now lower yourself so I can finish washing you off!" he commanded, seeming much more like a petulant child than a powerful pharaoh.

"You order me up, and then you order me back down. What's next, sideways?" Despite saying this he did obey and leaned down to make himself shorter.

Atem frowned. "Well I didn't tell you to stand up higher than I could reach," he grumbled, lifting the bucket above Joey's head and carefully pouring the water on him, making sure all of the soap was washed away before setting the basin aside and helping Joey out of the bath. "Wait here, and I will go get you some clean clothing to put on."

Joey shook himself like a dog to shake off most of the water, then rung his hair out, it was getting a little long, he should probably cut it soon. The blond hadn't had a haircut in quite a while. He found a towel sitting near the bath and he wrapped it around his waist.

Now that he was alone, Joey took the time to look around the room. It was huge, to say the least, with lots of expensive looking furnishings. A tiny black kitten suddenly peeked out from one of these furnishings, a beautifully painted vase, and meowed at him. "Hello there, little fellow," Joey said, stooping down to pet the little creature.

Atem left to go and speak with a servant, returning a little while later carrying a bundle of clean clothing that would (hopefully) be long enough for the ridiculously tall boy. He couldn't help but smile as he returned to the bathing area to see Joey petting a black kitten, and he crouched down by Joey's side. "These little ones find their way into the palace all the time," he spoke quietly, scratching the kitten behind its ears and chuckling as it began to purr. "I don't know if the same remains true in your time, but here they are regarded as creatures closest to the gods, and are treated with the utmost respect." Remembering why he'd left the room to begin with, he handed Joey the clothes. "Here, you can get dressed; your meal will arrive at my room in just a few minutes."

"Thanks," Joey said, taking the clothes. He unfolded them and stared at them for a bit, trying to figure out how to put the foreign thing on. "Is this a dress? And what is this?" he asked, holding up the loincloth.

Atem shook his head in a mixture of amusement and bewilderment. "That is a Jellabiya-a common article of clothing for those who reside in the palace to wear." Atem avoided the word "servants" for the time being, getting the feeling that Joey would put up a fight and quite possibly outright refuse the clothing if he brought up such a thing at the moment. "And that is what is worn... to cover your nether area," Atem replied awkwardly, uncertain if the future had a term for the article of clothing and figuring that the blunt explanation would probably get the point across better than using words that Joey wouldn't understand.

Joey blinked. "Oh, so it's underwear. How the heck is it put on?" He turned it in all directions, puzzled. "And this still looks like girl's clothes," he said, referring to the Jellabiya.

Atem, after a bit of awkward hesitation, helped Joey put on the 'underwear', slipping it around him and tying it for him so it stayed in place before helping him into the clothing, slipping a set of gold bands onto his arms to complete the outfit. "It may look like 'girl's clothes,' but I assure you that this is what men in this time wear."

"Still looks like a dress to me," Joey grumbled. Even so, it felt good to finally have clothes on and he was slowly relaxing. His stomach growled very loudly to remind him that he hadn't yet eaten.

Atem chuckled. "Come, your meal should have arrived by now." The pharaoh led Joey back to his bedroom, where a large spread of fresh food was laid out on a table, waiting for them. "Eat as much as you like, and if you are still hungry let me know; I'll have more food called up for you."

Joey couldn't stop himself from drooling and set into the food with gusto. He ate like a starving animal, which wasn't far from the truth; they had only given him enough food to keep him alive down in the dungeon. "Diest goof," he tried to say through a mouthful of food.

Atem watched him, slightly awed by how much he was able to eat in such a short amount of time. When Joey spoke-or tried to around a mouth full of food, anyway-Atem chuckled and gave him a smile. "I'm glad you're enjoying it. Would you like something to drink?" he asked, gesturing to the pitcher of fresh wine.

"What's this?" Joey wondered aloud, sniffing the pitcher. "Smells like grape juice." He then proceeded to drink the entire thing in only a few gulps. "Oof, stuffed," he said before flopping down on the floor, his arms and legs stretched out wildly.

Atem raised an eyebrow, his lips tugging upward in amusement. "I'm glad you've eaten your fill," he said after a moment, crouching down by Joey's side. "Would you like to take a rest first, or would you care to take a walk with me around the palace?"

Joey didn't hear him; he had fallen asleep right then and there and was softly snoring.

Atem smiled slightly. "I suppose I have my answer, then," he said quietly, rising to his feet. He took a blanket and pillow off of his bed, draping the blanket over Joey's sleeping figure and carefully slipping the pillow under his head before taking his leave-this would be as good of an opportunity as any to have a word with Seth.


	2. Chapter 2

Atem returned to the room a few hours later, smiling as Joey began to stir. "My apologies-I wasn't able to move you to a bed before you fell asleep. I hope you were able to sleep well, at least."

Joey blinked. "Huh, what? What happened?" He tried to get up but ended up getting tangled in the blanket and falling flat on his face.

Atem stifled a laugh behind his hand, crouching down by Joey's side. "Are you alright?"

Joey let out a muffled 'yes' before standing up to tower over the younger boy. "So what is there to do around here?"

Atem stood up as well, smiling wryly at his question. "I'm going to assume you mean what there is to do for leisure, seeing as I have plenty of things to do around the palace that you would most likely find dull." He gestured for Joey to follow him out of the room. "Come, I will show you around-I just ask that you please stay by my side at all times, and try not to speak too loudly or too much; it isn't proper for anyone to casually speak with the pharaoh unless they are of a high rank."

"So you want me to be quiet?" Joey managed to stay that way for a few minutes, but couldn't help but ask more questions. "So where is everyone?"

Atem could barely open his mouth to say yes, that was what he was asking Joey to do, before the boy already moved on to do the opposite of what the pharaoh wanted him to do. Still, Atem couldn't bring himself to be even mildly annoyed, so he let it slide as he walked through the ornate halls at a leisurely pace. "All of the servants are busy doing their duties, and I believe the priests are-" He cut off as he heard Mahaad's voice in the distance, quickly pulling Joey down a different hallway with a smile that was both sheepish and impish. "... I believe the priests are looking for their pharaoh who _probably_ should be doing that dull work he mentioned before." Not that anyone had the authority to do much more than give him a stern talking-to, of course, so he wasn't too concerned.

"But why can't they see me?" Joey asked, not really understanding the situation. Normally he wouldn't like someone grabbing him like that, but with Atem it was different, he felt fine with the boy touching him; it didn't put him on guard for a fight.

"Because you were a prisoner up until a few hours ago, and if you're seen walking around with me before I have the chance to explain things, then it's likely that they'll assume that you escaped on your own and are attempting to kidnap me or something of the sort," Atem explained, leading him down a different hallway. "I need to have a proper talk with my priests so that they understand that you aren't a threat and that you're to be treated with the utmost respect during your stay here; however, I am still uncertain of how much I should tell them... it's very possible that most-if not all-will be skeptical of you actually coming from a future point in time. However, without a doubt none of the servants will know anything of your being from another time; to them, you are just my new personal servant."

Joey blinked slowly. "Oh right, if I see that Kaiba-look-a-like jerk again..." The rest of what Atem said finally set in. "Wait, what, servant? I ain't no servant. What does a personal servant even do?"

"If you see him again, I will be sure that he gives you an apology for his treatment of you," Atem said, his lips twitching in amusement as Joey belatedly caught the tail end of his statement. "Yes, _servant,_ " he responded teasingly, his smile impish as he glanced at Joey's current attire. "You're dressed the part as well, so no one will question such a statement—as for what a personal servant does, normally it would be to tend to whatever needs their master has, but since it's just for appearance's sake I won't be requiring you to do anything but stay by my side and not get yourself into any trouble."

"So how am I gonna stay by your side while you do the stuff you need to do while staying out of sight?" Unless Atem could get away with sneaking around or something Joey couldn't see how he could manage this.

"Simple: I'm not going to be returning to my duties until I speak with my priests about you. You won't have to stay out of sight once they know about you-I just need to be the one to approach them rather than have them stumble on to us walking around with no explanation," Atem explained, continuing on his way down the hall. "It's just a matter of figuring out who to speak with... Mahaad will surely scold me for avoiding my work and venturing into the dungeons, but he would be the most likely to hear us out and believe that you are from a different time... perhaps Isis would believe us as well... Seth is far too stubborn, and after the way he treated you I would rather not go to him about this..." The young pharaoh continued muttering, more musing aloud than speaking to Joey.

"How many of these priests are there? And what do they do?" It seemed unnecessary to Joey to have that many of them. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going and ran right into one of the priests. "Oof, watch where you're going, buster!"

Atem was about to answer Joey when they rounded the corner, quite literally running into one of the six priests-and thankfully (for Joey's sake more than his own), it was one of the priests he'd hoped to find. "Mahaad, wait," he quickly stepped in before Mahaad could say anything, shooting Joey a look that clearly told him to watch his tongue before turning his attention back to his childhood friend. "If you would allow me to explain..."

…

Mahaad frowned as he searched the palace for the pharaoh, calling out to him once before remembering who he was dealing with-if Atem was going out of his way to avoid his duties, then making it known that someone was searching for him would only make the young pharaoh more determined to hide. With that in mind, he silently roamed the palace halls, searching the routes that Atem habitually took with the stealth of a person well-trained in the art of sneaking up on a certain two lazy children day after day (honestly, sometimes he felt more like their babysitter than their friend, though for all his griping he couldn't say he really minded).

He was rewarded a few minutes later as he turned the corner and bumped into someone, though it wasn't the person he expected-but standing next to him _was_ the person he was looking for, which momentarily threw him off until he took a good look at the tall blond that he bumped into, recognition flashing in his eyes as he recalled Seth's mention of a mysterious, foreign intruder that had been brought to the dungeons.

It seemed as if the pharaoh caught on to his train of thought as he stepped forward, as if-oddly enough-to protect the boy, and Mahaad eyed the blond warily for a moment before sighing and releasing his grip on the Millennium Ring around his neck, which he'd reflexively grabbed in preparation to defend the pharaoh without even thinking. "... Very well then, I'm listening-however, you had better have a good explanation for this."

Atem let out a quiet, relieved breath, giving Mahaad a grateful smile before glancing over at Joey. "Perhaps you should be the one to explain? Since you were the one who was brought to this time, after all."

Joey relaxed his balled fists after realizing that Atem knew the man. He looked closer at the tall man, something dawning on him. "Holy crap, you look just like the Dark Magician!" Joey stared, open mouthed. He'd never thought he'd see someone who looked so much like a Duel Monster in person.

Atem's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "'Dark Magician'? Well I suppose he is fairly dark skinned, and he _is_ a magician...," he responded, confused by Joey's outburst. "His Ka is the Illusion Magician, but I doubt that could be what you're referring to," he added as an afterthought.

"In my time we have this card game called Duel Monsters, and he looks like one of the monsters. Yugi's ace monster, actually." Joey was tempted to reach out and touch Mahaad, to make sure he was real, but didn't want to come off as a total creep.

Atem was immediately interested at the mention of a game. "A game with a monster that looks like Mahaad... and this creature is the 'ace monster' of your friend that looks like me?" He couldn't help but feel like such a thing was more than a mere coincidence, but he brushed the feeling off-he hardly knew anything about the future which Joey came from to draw any definitive conclusions, anyway.

Mahaad frowned, his curiosity piqued as he murmured, "A monster who looks like me, who is loyal to one who looks like the pharaoh... a magician... 'Dark' Magician..." The memory of a forbidden spell suddenly emerged in the forefront of his mind, but he quickly pushed the conclusion he'd come to aside before Atem could notice the slight paling of his complexion. _I would never use such a spell unless it was a dire emergency-it must only be a coincidence._ "I would like to hear an explanation from the very beginning," he said, giving the blond his full attention. "You and the pharaoh have both made a distinction between 'times'... so I am to assume that you were brought here from a different point in time, correct?"

"Yes, I'm from about 3,000 years in the future." Joey explained to the magician how he had come to the past, and what had happened to him since he got here, leaving out the part about his bath with Atem. Even to him the whole thing sounded a little far-fetched and crazy.

Mahaad remained silent as the boy spoke, taking in everything that he said with an expression that showed neither acceptance nor denial of his claims. Once the blond finished recounting his tale, Mahaad let out a drawn-out sigh, running a hand through his hair. "... Time-travel magic is extremely risky-you must have incredible luck to have made it here alive and in one piece. Often people who attempt traveling through time end up falling into rifts in time and space and subsequently erase themselves from existence; it's a very difficult spell to use, and an extremely risky one to cast on someone else," he said, before turning his attention to Atem. "I will inform the rest of the priests of the situation, and I will look into a way to safely return him to his own time. In the meantime, however...," he gave him a warning look. "This is not an excuse for avoiding work, so return to your duties. As for you," he then turned his attention to the blond, "do not repeat any of the information you told us to anyone else, and do not reveal any further information about the future-you could drastically alter the future if you aren't careful, and even if I were able to return you to your time, I can't guarantee that things would be as you knew them to be. Is that understood?"

"I can't do magic, I didn't cast anything on myself." With the exception of playing Duel Monsters, Joey had no knowledge of performing magic (and Duel Monsters were actually holograms anyway.) "I'd really like to know who sent me here in the first place...And yeah, yeah, no messing with the past or I might change the future, I know." He'd seen enough science fiction movies to know that much.

"Then someone must have cast it on you... for what purpose I cannot say, however," Atem mused, glancing over at Mahaad and receiving a nod in agreement. "If nothing else can be done for the moment then I suppose I'll return to my duties," he said with more than just a slight bit of reluctance, letting out a resigned sigh. "Mahaad, I leave this case in your capable hands-be sure to inform the rest of the priests before anything, and...," he hesitated for a moment, his expression turning worried for a moment as he continued, "... be careful."

Mahaad couldn't help but crack a small smile-though his friend was forced to mature faster than he should have, underneath it all he was still the same sweet, caring prince that Mahaad knew well. "As you wish, my lord," he responded, giving Atem a deep bow before straightening up and turning on his heel to begin the duty he'd been assigned. _Convincing the priests-especially Seth-of the truth behind this absurd tale might just end up being more difficult than researching the spell to send that boy home... Ra give me strength,_ he thought wryly, rubbing his temples as he felt a migraine already coming on. It was going to be a long, long day...

"So what are these duties you need to do?" Joey was starting to get bored with nothing going on. He'd like to actually go outside, he hadn't seen the sun in days.

Atem began walking again, gesturing for Joey to follow him. "Nothing interesting, really, so I will apologize in advance for boring you-I have to go over laws, ascertain that taxes were collected, hear the complaints and resolve the disputes of my people, and other such tasks. Occasionally I am required to take part in religious rituals, as well as war planning, but I don't have to do either of those as of now." After a moment, he frowned and lightly grasped his Millennium Puzzle as he added, "It is also my duty to oversee the conviction of criminals and the removal of their evil Ka, and to step in and aid with the sealing of the Ka if it proves to be too strong for my priests to handle-which it never does, of course."

"What's a Ka?" Joey asked. He saw a flash of black out of the corner of his eye and found that the kitten from earlier was following them. He stooped down to pick it up.

"Ka are spirits that reflect the nature of the person that they come from. They are fueled by the energy of the soul: the Ba," Atem explained, pausing and watching with a smile as Joey picked up the kitten that had apparently followed them before continuing. "Whenever you command a Ka, you lose Ba, and if you lose all your Ba you lose your life. The strength of the Ba determines the strength of the Ka—a person with a good soul will have a spirit or good Ka, but a person with an evil soul will have a monster or demon Ka. With the Millennium Items, The Sacred Guardians are able to seal the Ka of a person within a stone slab and would be capable of summoning and controlling them from the Shrine of Wedju," he explained.

Joey started absently petting the kitten. "That does sound an awful lot like Duel Monsters..." Remembering what Mahaad had said about not revealing things about the future, he didn't explain further. The kitten let out a contented purr as it fell asleep in his arms.

Atem was tempted to ask more about this 'Duel Monsters' game, his temptation nearly getting the better of him before he remembered Mahaad's warning. "Well, you may get to see the Ka removal and sealing ritual yourself if someone is brought in, so you can judge for yourself just how similar or different it really is," he responded before adding, "Though I'd like to hope that you don't have to witness such a thing." He led Joey out through the courtyards, nodding in acknowledgement to the servants that bowed to him as they walked past.

"Why? Is it painful or something?" Joey was a little intrigued to know what this Ka removal was all about. "Isn't it kinda weird to have all these people bowing to you and stuff?" he added as he saw all the servants bowing as they passed.

"I can't say firsthand how painful or not painful it is, since I've never physically experienced it myself, but from what I've seen and heard it definitely seems to be an excruciating process—which is to be expected, I suppose, since Ka are tied to a person's spirit, so it's the same as having half of your spirit torn out," he explained. The pharaoh blinked in confusion at Joey's question, as if never even having considered such a thing, before shrugging. "I suppose when you are raised in such a setting, you become accustomed to it."

They walked through the courtyards for a few minutes before reaching another section of the palace, Atem leading the way all the way up to a large set of ornate doors, which two guards immediately opened for him and his 'servant' to reveal a room larger than the courtyard itself. With a mixture of familiarity and resignation, the young pharaoh made his way into the room, walking all the way over to the throne before taking a seat with a quiet sigh before glancing up at Joey. "My apologies, but there are no seats aside from the throne in this room, so unless you wish to take a seat on the floor, you will have to bear with standing for the next few hours."

"Can't I just sit on the arm or something?" Joey asked, not waiting for an answer and perching himself on the arm of the throne. "How can you sit on this thing all the time? It's so hard and uncomfortable..."

Atem, while he secretly enjoyed the expression on Siamun's face as he looked on from the opposite side of the throne (it was a mixture between shock, horror, bewilderment, and indignation, among other various emotions), did not want his people starting to think that such behavior was acceptable (or worse... after all, such a position would most likely imply that the blond was a _special_ kind of servant, and he did _not_ want his kingdom finding out that he felt no attraction towards women), and so he shot Joey a glare and responded quietly between clenched teeth, "It is hard and uncomfortable because the arm of the throne is not meant to be sat on—now _please_ remove yourself and take a seat on the ground before anyone arrives." It was obvious that his request was an order, as well as a thinly-veiled threat—the pharaoh was not above pushing Joey off of the arm of the throne and onto the ground if need-be, and if the boy didn't get up himself within the next few seconds, the pharaoh was considering doing just that.

Joey didn't seem to catch on to Atem's threat. "Wow, you sure are possessive over a dumb chair." He didn't get off, but started swinging his legs around like a small child in a chair that was too big for him.

Atem gave Joey a flat look, and—despite how cute the image of the blond was at the moment (not that he would admit such a thing aloud, of course)—pushed him off the arm of the throne, watching in a mixture of amusement and slight guilt as Joey fell to the floor. "I apologize, but I asked nicely and you didn't obey, so I was forced to take drastic measures—now stay there and keep quiet, the guards are about to let in the first set of people."

Joey let out an audible "Humf" before sitting down beside the throne, his arms crossed and a glower on his face. "Stupid pharaoh and his chair," he muttered under his breath. Did he really have to treat him so harshly? He was just playing around. He also really didn't want to sit there for the next couple hours doing nothing, but he didn't really have a choice.

Atem felt even more guilty as he saw the upset expression on Joey's face, but there wasn't much he could do since the first of what would be a long list of people were brought into the throne room to air their grievances. By the time the fourth and fifth people were brought in, Atem was already tuning them out, though he was at least able to feign an expression of interest as the two tried to argue their cases about who the livestock belong to or some other trivial matter along those lines. The only thing that was keeping him awake was the feeling of Joey's soft hair, which he gradually became aware of sometime in between the second and third person—but it didn't seem as if Joey really minded (or at least, he wasn't making a fuss about it if he did), and so he saw no reason to stop idly playing with the boy's hair if it was the only thing keeping him from falling asleep on the throne.

At first Joey was going to protest Atem playing with his hair, but he had already been scolded once today and he really didn't want to start anything by complaining about it. Besides, though he could barely admit it to himself, he kind of liked the feeling of Atem's fingers running through his hair. The blond found himself leaning into the stroking hand and slowly falling asleep for the second time that day.

Atem glanced over in surprise when he felt movement under his hand, his cheeks flushing slightly as he realized that Joey was actually leaning into his touches. _Is he... enjoying this?_ It took all of the pharaoh's self-restraint to keep a soft smile from spreading across his features as he saw Joey beginning to nod off with a peaceful (and somehow adorable) expression on his face, and while part of him lamented having to sit through the rest of these people's grievances on his own, he found himself continuing to gently run his fingers through the blond's hair regardless as the hours passed—after all, the boy was still recovering, and he could use all the rest he could get (and not only that, but he had a feeling that Joey's patience would have worn out sometime around the twelfth person had he not fallen asleep, so this really was for the best for everyone involved).

Finally, a few hours later, the last person was escorted out of the throne room, and Atem let out a relieved sigh as he immediately got off of the throne and stretched his sore and slightly numb limbs. Now that he had no need to hide it, Atem allowed a soft smile to grace his features as he glanced over at the sleeping blond, crouching down by his side and quickly losing to the temptation of running his fingers through Joey's hair once more as he spoke quietly. "Joey... wake up, the hearings are over. If you're still tired, you can return to my room and sleep there if you wish."

Joey mumbled something inaudible and slowly blinked his eyes open, looking like a confused and sleepy puppy. "Huh, what, Yugi, you watch that video I lent you? I want it back..." The blond's head went back down as he fell asleep for another minute. Suddenly, he was fully awake and stood up very quickly, almost tripping and falling for the second time that day, but was able to stop himself by grabbing hold of Atem's shoulders. "Oh, I'm still here, it's not a dream..." he said quietly, almost wistfully.

Atem chuckled quietly at the odd, mumbled statement, realizing that Joey was just talking in his sleep, and he patiently waited for Joey to fully wake up. He was startled as Joey suddenly shot up, just barely keeping his balance as the other boy gripped his shoulders to avoid falling over, and his heart clenched in sympathy at the tone of his voice and the expression on his face. "... My apologies," he murmured, knowing that apologizing would do nothing to help the boy return to his time yet feeling unsure of what else he could possibly say in response. He hesitated a moment before giving Joey a small, reassuring smile. "You will be home soon enough, don't worry—for now, how about we retire for the night? I believe my priests can handle everything else that needs to be done today."

Joey held onto Atem's shoulders for a little longer than was entirely necessary. Realizing he was still gripping them, rather tightly, he let go. "Sorry, didn't mean to hurt you," he apologized sheepishly. "Sure, sleep sounds good," he added after hearing the shorter boy mention them retiring. "I could sleep for a year at this point." Joey let out a huge yawn, stretching his arms and legs out wide.

Atem smiled, waving off Joey's concern (and resisting the urge to rub his slightly-sore shoulders). "It's alright, I'm fine." He chuckled quietly at the boy's comment, waiting until he was finished stretching before leading him out of the throne room and back through the halls of the palace. Within a few minutes, they were back in front of the large doors belonging to the pharaoh's personal chambers, and he led Joey into the room, gesturing towards the bed. "Make yourself comfortable," he said, stifling a yawn behind his hand as he pulled off his clothing and jewelry, setting it aside and leaving him in just his 'underwear' (as Joey had referred to the cloth) as he made his way over to the bed to sleep.

Joey stood watching as Atem took his clothes off. He felt that he probably shouldn't watch, but he was doing it right there in front of him... "Wait, there's only one bed?" he asked, searching the room for a second one.

Atem felt the boy's eyes on him as he undressed but said nothing on the matter (despite the light blush that colored his cheeks), instead raising an eyebrow when he spoke. "Unless there was a bed hiding somewhere in this room that I did not know of, then yes, there is only one bed," he replied with a touch of sarcasm, smiling slightly in amusement and laying down on one side of the bed. "There is more than enough room on this bed for two, or even three people." (He would know, since he'd often shared his bed with Mana and Mahaad when they were younger, after all.) "Now lay down and get some rest."

Joey found himself blushing as well. Even so, he stripped down and went over to the other side of the bed, not yet getting in but sitting on the edge. With the exception of when he was very little and Serenity had had a nightmare and wanted to stay with him, he'd never slept in the same bed with someone before. It was rather awkward.

Atem rolled onto his side, looking up at Joey in confusion as the boy sat on the edge of the bed instead of lying down. "Is something the matter?" He frowned. "If the bed is not to your liking, I could have a few servants bring a different bed into the room..."

Joey shook his head, his blond mop of hair poofing out around his head. He should stop being stupid, they were just sleeping. No big deal, right? "Nah, it's fine." He flopped down on the bed and pulled the covers over himself, yawning even wider than last time.

Atem smiled slightly, shifting under the covers and covering up a yawn as well. "Very well then. Goodnight Joey, sleep well." The pharaoh closed his eyes, his exhaustion from such a long, eventful day quickly catching up with him as he swiftly drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Atem groaned, frowning in his sleep as he gradually became aware of something heavy on top of him, weighing him down and making it difficult to move. "Mmh... Mana, geddoff...," he murmured sleepily, blindly attempting to move the limbs off of him before belatedly realizing that said limbs most certainly did _not_ belong to his young female friend-rather, the limbs in question were surprisingly muscular, and most definitely male...

Curious, Atem cracked an eye open, his face flooding with color as he realized that at some point during the night, Joey had shifted from his side of the bed to spread out across the majority of the large bed-including on top of the pharaoh himself. "J-Joey... Joey, please wake up and move yourself this instant," he commanded weakly, glancing over at the door warily-if someone were to walk in and see the pharaoh in such a compromising position with another male... Atem didn't even want to think about what sort of repercussions such a misunderstanding would have.

Joey slowly started to wake up; he also became aware of something strange as Atem had. "Why is this bed so lumpy?" He looked down to see the embarrassed and squashed little pharaoh underneath him. Still half asleep, he was confused by the sight, tilting his head to the side. "What are you doing down there?"

Atem's blush darkened as Joey shifted, their faces mere inches apart, and he forced his eyes away from the boy's (soft-looking and suddenly _incredibly_ tempting) lips, finding that looking at the sleepy, confused expression on Joey's face wasn't helping all that much either. _I swear to Ra, it should not be possible for a boy of his stature to look so cute..._ "I am 'down here' because you apparently moved in your sleep and pinned me here," he replied wryly.

Joey blinked, still mostly asleep. "Why would I do that?" The tall blond tried to sit up and ended up planting his knee in Atem's gut. "Oops, sorry," he said, moving his knee. Now he was fully awake and found himself staring into Atem's eyes. He'd never noticed what a pretty shade of amethyst they were. He unconsciously got closer, until the two boys were almost touching.

Atem grimaced as Joey's knee abruptly collided with his gut, the only thing preventing him from doubling over being the fact that he was still barely able to move out of their tangled mess of limbs. "It's fine," he responded through gritted teeth, taking a few slow breaths to clear the spots from his eyes and allow the pain some time to fade.

Once he returned to awareness, he realized that Joey had shifted to hover over him, their eyes locked as the blond's face seemed to move closer and closer, his own face seeming to move of its own accord to draw closer to Joey's... until a knock at his door and the sound of a servant timidly speaking snapped him out of whatever daze he'd slipped into.

The pharaoh hastily shoved Joey off of him, his face bright red and his heart beating unnaturally quickly as he shouted a shaky, "Y-yes, I am awake, and I would very much appreciate breakfast being brought to my chambers, thank you." Unable to look Joey in the eye out of embarrassment, Atem slipped out of bed and over to his wardrobe to get dressed for the day, unable to figure out what had prompted such an odd reaction in the first place (or rather, he had a feeling that he knew, but he refused to admit it when he knew that the other boy had merely been half-asleep and unaware of his actions).

Joey shook his head, trying to shake away the strange feeling that had overcome him. Was he attracted to Atem? That couldn't be the case, he was a boy, and he'd never been attracted to a boy before. He wasn't... The blond shook his head again, this time more violently, his hair falling over his face. He should really consider a haircut, and also a comb, he thought to himself, running a hand through the tangled mess that had become his hair. Joey untangled himself from the bed and stood up; searching and finding the clothes he had carelessly throw on the floor the night before. He quickly donned them and looked to Atem. "So what are we going to do today? Any leads on how to get me back home?"

Atem took his time straightening out his clothes in order to give himself another minute to compose himself, only turning back to face Joey when he was sure that his blush had receded. "Today I will have to sit in on a meeting to discuss the creation of a new law, and I believe a diplomat from the Kingdom of Ararat is scheduled to arrive later today to discuss trade negotiations... in other words, nothing all too exciting, I'm afraid," he added with a wry yet apologetic smile. "As for news on sending you back to your time, I will consult with Mahaad to see if he has found anything, but you must be patient-it's only been less than a day since he's started to search, and while he is one of my kingdom's finest magicians, even he cannot perform a miracle."

Joey's stomach growled. "Looks like I'm hungry again," he said almost sheepishly. The blond was still trying to sort out his feelings about Atem, but it was only making his head hurt, so he decided to try to put it out of his mind for now. "You don't happen to have a comb, do you?" He tried to put his hair into some semblance of order but only ended up making it look worse. Normally he didn't really care nor do anything with his hair, but after not doing anything with it for about a week was really starting to bug him. He really didn't want to look like he had a bird's nest made out of straw on his head.

Atem muffled a laugh behind his hand at the sound of Joey's stomach growling. "Don't worry, breakfast should be here in a few minutes," he responded, looking around for a comb at the boy's request and passing one to him once he found it. "Here you are." Noticing Joey's expression, he added, "Would you like some scissors as well? You don't seem to be too pleased with your hair, and I could have a servant help you shorten or style it if you wish."

"Yeah, I think I need to trim the bangs, I can't see." The blond worked the knots out of his tangled mess of golden hair. "Do you have the scissors in here too? I think I'd like to do it myself." Being very poor, Joey had never actually been to a hair salon before and had always cut it himself.

"I do not have scissors in here, but I can have a servant bring a pair of scissors right now," the pharaoh replied, stepping out of the room and calling over a servant to fetch him a pair of scissors, and within a few minutes Atem was able to hand Joey the pair of scissors that he needed. "Are you certain you wish to cut it yourself? I would think having someone else cut it for you would be simpler..."

"I just don't want them to mess it up..." Joey said, wary about anyone ruining his hair. Though it was already a mess, it couldn't really get any worse. "Well, maybe, just this once," he relented.

Atem smiled and nodded. "Very well then. Wait just a moment." He left the room, returning moments later with a young, nervous-looking woman. "He just needs his bangs trimmed," the pharaoh instructed, and the woman nodded in understanding and quickly made her way over to the pharaoh's 'personal servant', gently lifting the blond's bangs with one hand and meticulously trimming them with the scissors in her other hand.

Once Joey's bangs were short enough that they were out of his eyes, the young woman took a step back, glancing nervously between the pharaoh and his servant to make sure that both were pleased with her work. "Well, Joey? Do you think that's good, or would you like her to cut them shorter?" Atem asked-personally he thought Joey looked fine regardless of the length of his hair, and considering his own unusual hair, he found it difficult to judge what an acceptable hair length would be.

"It's fine, I can see now." Joey looked at his hair in a mirror and thought it looked fine. He turned to the servant who had cut it. "Thanks," he said, smiling at her.

Atem nodded in approval as Joey spoke, and the servant relaxed infinitesimally, flushing at the thanks and tentatively returning his smile before bowing to him and to the pharaoh and politely excusing herself. Hardly a minute or two after the servant girl left, another two servants entered the room carrying large trays of fresh fruits and freshly cooked foods for breakfast, setting the large meal down on a table in the room for the pharaoh and his personal servant to eat at their leisure. Atem nodded his thanks to them, waiting until they left before gesturing to the meal with a smile. "Help yourself, and eat as much as you want," he offered, taking a seat and taking a small portion of the food for himself-he wasn't a very large eater, so the majority of the food he'd requested had been for Joey anyway.

Joey started to dig into the food, he didn't eat it as fast as he had the previous day, but he was still eating it pretty quickly. "So do I really have to stick with you the entire time?" he asked in between bites. It was really boring having to stay with the pharaoh all the time when he didn't do anything interesting.

Atem paused in his eating at Joey's question, a frown on his face. "... It would be best if you stayed with me, yes," he responded after a moment. "It isn't safe for you to be wandering around on your own in an unfamiliar time and place." Not to mention if Joey happened to run into Priest Seth without him there... the pharaoh had a feeling that nothing good would come of the two of them meeting without someone there to act as a mediator. "However," he added reluctantly, "I suppose there's no real need for you to suffer through political meetings with me, so as long as you swear to stay within the castle grounds and not get yourself into any trouble, you may do as you wish for today."

…

Joey was glad that he didn't have to follow Atem around all day, but he also had no idea what he was going to do with himself. He left the Pharaoh's chambers to aimlessly explore the palace. The little black kitten that had found him the previous day came up to him again and meowed up at him so he picked the tiny thing up and took it with him, glad for some company.

A group of young women walked through the halls, a large basket of clean laundry in one girl's arms and washboards and soap in the arms of the other girls as they chatted amongst themselves in quiet yet jovial tones. They were quickly pulled from their conversation at the sight of someone in the distance, and they all fell silent before realizing that it was not anyone of high rank, but rather a servant—and a new one at that, because they certainly would have remembered seeing a face (and hair, and a body) like his around the palace... Hardly a word needed to be said between them before they moved towards him in unison, smiles that were almost too friendly spreading across their features. "You seem lost... are you new to the palace?" One of the young women asked. Another young woman moved closer and added, "We have a bit of free time on our hands—we can show you around, if you want~"

Joey was very confused by the sudden group of women surrounding him. "Um, uh," he sputtering, distracted by how pretty they were. "Um, I am new here, but I'm not really lost, I was just looking around a bit." He rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed. "It would be nice to be shown around though; Atem's not really shown me much yet."

The young women all gasped, exchanging wide-eyed glances before one of them finally mustered up the courage to speak. "You're... on first-name basis with the _pharaoh?_ Does this mean that you and he are...?" Rumors had already flown around the palace about the pharaoh taking a foreign, personal servant... if this was the servant in question, and he was on first-name basis with the pharaoh, then that could only mean one thing.

"We had no idea that the pharaoh... went that way," one of the girls said, and another one piped up with, "I suppose that explains why he never spared even a passing glance towards any of the ladies in the palace—we always just assumed it was because he was still young." The young women giggled amongst themselves—news of this would spread through the palace faster than a fire through a forest, just as soon as they could find people to tell. "Oh, but of course, if the pharaoh hasn't shown you around yet, we would be more than happy to give you a tour!" One of the girls spoke up, remembering the blond's initial request.

It took a second for what the girls were saying to sink in. "No, no, me and him...no, we're not like that. He's just helping me get back home." The blond turned bright red. It wasn't like that at all! He wasn't into guys...was he? Sure, the boy was admittedly attractive, but Joey didn't think he was actually into him...

The group of girls couldn't help but giggle at the blond's flustered expression, though they were visibly disappointed that their hunch had been incorrect. "Still, even the high priests never call the pharaoh by name... and to have the pharaoh personally helping you with anything... the pharaoh must hold you in very high regards to be treating you with such privilege," one of the young woman said with a smile, the others nodding and voicing their agreement.

"Yes, the only people he ever seems to voluntarily be around are his priests and Lady Mana—he's respectful and kind to everyone else, of course, but he seems to keep his distance from most people... though I suppose it's difficult to be close with anyone when you can never be sure of who's going to try and kill you next," one of the young women murmured, the others nodding sympathetically. "He's far too young to have the weight of a nation on his shoulders, if you ask me. Especially so soon after the late pharaoh's passing..."

Joey 's face fell. He had gotten the impression that something had happened to Atem's father to make him the new pharaoh, but now it was confirmed. He himself wasn't close with his parents, in fact he'd go so far as to say that he was estranged from his mother and his father was a drunken asshole, but he could understand how Atem must feel with his father dying. He couldn't stand all this touchy feely stuff but he was tempted to ask Atem about it, see if he could do anything to help.

"Who's this Mana?" Joey asked. She'd been mentioned before, but he still didn't know who she was. Was she Atem's sister, or maybe...a girlfriend? He didn't know why, but he felt a slight pang at the thought that Atem might have a girlfriend, even though he said he didn't.

"Lady Mana? I'm surprised you haven't met her yet, if you've been keeping company with the pharaoh," one of the girls responded before explaining. "Lady Mana is a childhood friend of the pharaoh's, as well as the High Priest Mahaad's star pupil—she's a sweet girl, if a bit klutzy, though you'd best avoid her when she's practicing magic... I heard she accidentally turned one of the guards into a chicken one time." The group of young women laughed, another girl piping up with, "I heard she turned High Priest Seth's hair green once!" This prompted another round of giggles—the High Priest had been irate, but that had only made it even more amusing for everyone who saw him. "She's still learning, so it's not her fault that she makes mistakes, though."

 **Joey** had to stifle a laugh at the thought of the Kaiba he knew sporting green hair. "I think I'd like to meet her, where can I find her?" he asked, looking around like he might happen to spot her somewhere. She sounded like she might be fun, and Joey was getting more and more bored as the minutes passed.

"It's hard to say, she's always running around so no one ever knows exactly where she is until she decides to pop up." One of the girls sidled up to the blond, wrapping her arms around one of his and looking up at him with a smile. "But enough about that—you wanted a tour, didn't you?"

Some of the other girls huffed and fussed, while the rest laughed quietly. "Hey, no fair, making the first move like that!" Another girl took the blond's other arm, eying him appreciatively. "You know, you've got quite the build for a servant... are you sure you aren't actually a warrior?" There were more quiet giggles, and with that the girls began tugging him along down the hall to show him around.

Joey was tempted to mention that he technically wasn't even a real servant, but remembered that his being from the future should remain a secret. "Um, could you stop pulling me?" Not that he minded that much being touching by a bunch of pretty girls, but he barely knew them, and he could walk on his own.

"Oh, right, right, sorry~" The girls giggled, slowing their pace so they weren't pulling him along but continuing to remain close and hold onto his arms as they walked. "There's so much to see in the palace; I can't believe the pharaoh hasn't shown you around if you're so close with him!"

"Well, I only met him yesterday." Joey didn't say anything about being in the dungeon and being tortured for...he couldn't even remember how long he was down there.

" Yesterday? " The girls looked at him in shocked awe. "You mean he appointed you as his personal servant after only knowing you for one day? He must have really taken a liking to you..." This prompted another round of quiet giggles.

"Yeah, maybe..." Joey tried to shrug it off as nothing. These nattering girls were starting to annoy him.

…

Priestess Isis wore a troubled frown on her face, her fingers briefly brushing against the Millennium Tauk around her neck as she walked through the palace halls. Ever since approximately one week ago, there had been an odd interference whenever she attempted a divination—almost as if something was blocking her from seeing future events. It was unsettling, but once Mahaad had spoken with her and the other priests of the boy from the future, Isis had deduced that his presence must have been what was causing the odd interference. As if fate were guiding her, she rounded the corner before coming to a stop in surprise as he caught sight of the boy in question, her Millennium Tauk shining briefly as a vision flashed through her mind's eye—it was brief, but it was certainly a vision of the future, and an unsettling one at that... especially considering how the sight of this boy had been what prompted a reaction from her millennium item.

With a serious expression, she made her way towards him and the group of young women around him, her face easing into a brief yet gentle smile when the girls immediately bowed. "My apologies for disturbing you all," she said, before turning her gaze up to meet the blond's eyes. "You are the one Mahaad spoke of, correct?"

Joey blinked, staring at the woman. "Ishizu?" This woman did look a lot like Marik's sister. Did everyone from this time look like someone he knew? "Um, yes, I'm Joey. Did you want something?" The blond continued to look confused.

"My name is Isis," she responded, both to correct him and to properly introduce herself. "And yes... there is a matter that I would like to discuss with you." The girls took the hint and respectfully (though reluctantly) stepped out of hearing range, leaving Joey and Isis alone in the hallway. "Ever since your arrival, my Millennium Tauk has not been functioning as it should—it was only when Mahaad informed me of your presence and your origin that I realized why I was unable to see any visions of the future. However..." She met his gaze with a serious expression. "Just now, upon seeing you myself for the first time, I experienced a strong vision—I do not often give warnings to anyone other than his highness or the other wielders of the Millennium Items, but this vision..." Isis's frown deepened, her fingers brushing against the tauk around her neck. "It was brief, but what I saw was enough to show me that the entire future as you know it could be at stake."

Closing her eyes, she recalled the flash of images that passed through her mind as she spoke. "On the night where the sow swallows the moon, you will be given a choice: should you choose to abide by the plan and return before your time runs out, you may very well find that the future you once knew is no more; however, if you choose the path of selflessness, your home may become nothing more than a distant dream. You must choose wisely—once you make your decision, the wheels of fate will begin to turn, and not even the gods themselves can stop them."

Joey stared even more blankly at Isis. "What the hell are you talking about? Is that a threat? What is this mumbo jumbo?" He stepped back from her, mildly creeped out. He didn't want to hear this stupid crap. Maybe Atem knew what the hell she was talking about...

Priestess Isis reopened her eyes to look at Joey, her expression remaining serious. "It is not a threat, merely a warning—one you'd best heed, for the future's sake if not your own." Having said all that she could, and sensing the boy's wariness, Isis decided it was best to say nothing more on the matter, instead politely excusing herself with a small bow before continuing on down the hallway, hoping that the choice the boy made would end up being the right one in the end.

"Is she gone?" "I think she's gone!" One of the girls moved faster than the others, hugging Joey and looking up at him with a sympathetic expression. "You look like you've seen a ghost! You poor thing... the high priestess scares a lot of people with all her future talk, don't worry!" Smiling, the girl leaned up and pressed a kiss to Joey's cheek. "Now then, where were we~?"

" We —" one of the other girls interrupted, moving over to Joey's other side and hugging his arm, "—were going to continue our tour of the palace, isn't that right?" She leaned up and pressed a kiss to Joey's other cheek with a smile. "And maybe I can give you a tour of the servants' quarters too~"

Joey blushed deeply, they had kissed him! He didn't really know how to react to that. It had only been on the cheek, but he'd never been kissed before. "Um, uh, uh," he stuttered, unable to get words to come out of his mouth. "Huh, wha?" he stumbled along for a bit, not sure what to do with all the attention.

The girls giggled as the blond's face filled with color. "You're even cuter when you blush~" one of them teased as they led him around the corner and down the next hallway, pressing another kiss to his cheek. "I would've thought someone as handsome as you would be used to getting lots of attention from the ladies~"


	4. Chapter 4

Atem was beyond irritated as he stood up to leave the meeting room. Every single time he had to sit in on a diplomatic meeting of any sort (though he hadn't had to sit in on many as pharaoh just yet, admittedly), he found himself leaving with a pounding headache and a mixture of frustration and exhaustion—not only were language barriers an issue, meaning that they needed to rely on translators that sometimes didn't do their job in an honest manner (which of course would cause plenty of misunderstandings that could endanger the relationships between Egypt and the diplomat's country), but there was also the simple fact that none of the men he'd dealt with had taken anything he had to say seriously merely because of his age and stature.

It was difficult to act like a powerful leader when you were constantly being talked down to, after all, and if it weren't for Siamun, Atem was sure that he wouldn't ever be able to get them to take his suggestions and his terms for agreements seriously. So when Atem walked out of the room already feeling irritated, only to see Joey blushing and surrounded by beautiful young women—one of which was kissing his cheek as if it were the most natural thing—something in him snapped.

"Ladies. I certainly hope that my servant hasn't been distracting you from your duties too much." The pharaoh's calm smile belied the curtness of his tone (as well as belying the shadows on the ground, which seemed to be shifting in response to Atem's irritation). Without another word, the servant girls hastily gave the pharaoh a deep bow, quickly apologizing before scurrying off to resume their duties. Atem briefly glanced over at Joey before turning on his heel and beginning to walk, the only indication that he wanted Joey to follow being the clipped command, "Come."

Joey could feel how irritated Atem was. He didn't think he'd done anything against the law, not this time anyway, so why was he so angry? He wanted to ask Atem why he looked like he was about to kill someone, but he didn't since he didn't want that anger thrown at him. So the blond kept quiet, nervous about what the pharaoh was going to do, and followed the short boy to where ever it was that he was leading him.

Atem's irritation gradually ebbed away into guilt as he realized that Joey—who hadn't once remained quiet or followed orders since the moment the pharaoh met him—was nervously and silently trailing after him. He knew his reaction had been unfair, and he wasn't even sure why he'd reacted in such a way at the sight of those women hanging off of Joey to begin with (or perhaps he _did_ know—after all, consciously or not, he'd made sure to put emphasis on the fact that Joey was _his_ when he'd not-so-covertly reprimanded the servants), but he realized that the servants' actions hadn't been Joey's fault, and so it wasn't right to make Joey feel as if he were going to be punished.

With a quiet sigh, Atem spoke, keeping his gaze ahead as he continued to walk. "... My apologies. I am not angry with you, if that is your concern—my meeting with the diplomat did not go very well, and to walk out of the room and see the palace servants... hanging off of you instead of doing their work as they should did not help my irritation any. I realize this is not your fault, but should they not do their job because they were with you, it will come back to me for being the one to allow you to freely roam the palace to begin with; do you understand?"

A thought occurred to him, and he added, "Of course, you're free to speak with whomever you wish, servant or not—just do not keep them distracted from their work for too long, that's all I ask; and if you wish for... a lady's company, you may visit the harem instead of distracting the female servants." He had to force the last part out reluctantly, wanting to be one hundred-percent clear that he wasn't trying to hold Joey back or keep him prisoner in any way (even if he wasn't too happy with the idea of Joey frequenting the harem instead of spending time with him).

It took a while for this all to sink in for Joey. "Wait, you're encouraging me to go to the harem?" That was the part that stuck out for him. He wasn't sure he really wanted to; he had no experience with women and didn't even know what he should do, as was obvious by how he had reacted just a few minutes before to all those servant girls hanging off of him.

Atem frowned, looking slightly uncomfortable as he kept his gaze straight ahead and away from Joey. "Well I'm not _encouraging_ it so much as I'm not _dis_ couraging it-I just meant, well... if you enjoyed those sorts of things, I don't want to seem as if I'm stopping you from doing... what you want, or anything like that."

Joey noticed that Atem wasn't looking at him, was he still mad at him, even though he said he wasn't? "Hey man, if you're still mad at me, just say it." Joey reached out to grab one of Atem's shoulders, stopping his headlong march to wherever the hell they were going.

Atem flushed lightly as Joey grabbed him by the shoulder and forced the two of them to a stop, reluctantly turning his gaze up to meet the blond's eyes. "I wasn't angry at you to begin with," Atem insisted, glancing away in embarrassment as he added, "I was just... ashamed of my behavior earlier, and talk of relations with women makes me... fairly uncomfortable, that's all."

"So you've never kissed a girl or anything?" Joey found it surprising with Atem's position as pharaoh; he could get anything he wanted. "Though," he added, blushing, "Neither have I..."

Atem looked back up at Joey in a mixture of surprise and relief. "You haven't either? With the way those women were gathered around you, I assumed..." His embarrassed blush darkened slightly as he realized that the odd feeling that he'd felt (which had most definitely _not_ been jealousy) had been due to nothing more than a misunderstanding. "My apologies, I shouldn't have been so forward as to jump to conclusions."

Joey put his hands up in a defensive gesture. "Hey, they came up to me while I was exploring, I had nothing to do with it. They said they wanted to show me around, but I think they had other ideas..." He rubbed the back of his head, nervous at the thought of what they might have been planning.

Atem chuckled. "I see... then I suppose it was just as well that I intervened." He turned and resumed walking, his expression much more relaxed as he gestured for Joey to follow him. "A tour of the entire palace would be a bit difficult to manage in one day, but I can at least show you a few places of interest to keep yourself occupied while I attend to my duties."

Joey relaxed as well as he saw that Atem wasn't angry with him; he didn't want his only friend in this place to hate him. "What is there around here? Is there a pool? Sports of some kind?" He continued to follow closely behind the shorter boy. Something dashed around an upcoming corner that Joey just barely caught sight of before it disappeared. "What was that?" he wondered aloud, thinking it might just be another cat or something.

"There is an outdoor pool that is only for my use, and one that is for the nobles and priests of the palace-but of course, as with anything else, I extend whatever privileges I have to you, so you are more than welcome to make use of my pool if you wish. There are also the training grounds, where you may spar against the training dummies-or against the palace guards if you would like a challenge."

Atem was about to say something else when he spotted a familiar figure dashing around the corner, and he couldn't help but smile in amusement. "I believe that was another source of entertainment, if you happen to run into her," the pharaoh responded with a quiet chuckle, picking up his pace a bit to go after the girl. Years of knowing the energetic (and mischievous) girl made it all too easy to spot her even as she swiftly slipped into one of her usual hiding spots, and with obvious amusement in his expression, he made his way over to one of the vases and looked inside with a raised eyebrow. "Should I even ask who you're hiding from this time, Mana?"

"Eep!" Mana flailed within the large vase, nearly tipping the ceramic item over were it not for Atem gripping the sides to steady it. "Oh, it's just you, Prince. Don't scare me like that; I thought you were a guard!" She poked her head out, looking around warily. "They didn't follow me, did they?"

Atem rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "No, no one came after you, so I think you're in the clear," he responded with a quiet laugh, helping his childhood friend out of the vase. "So what did you do to them _this_ time?"

Mana pouted at the accusation. "I didn't do anything! ... That bad," she amended, sheepishly smiling and sticking her tongue out a bit. "It wasn't my fault that one of them interrupted my training! And at least this time I didn't do any permanent damage! ... I think."

"That's what you said the last time, and it took Mahaad almost a week to figure out how to get those servants' hair to grow back."

"That was _one time!_ " Mana pouted. "You're so mean, Prince... you and Teacher both never let anything go, do you?" She turned slightly, blinking in surprise as she belatedly became aware of the blond's presence. "Ohh! Oh, are you the one Teacher mentioned! The one from the fu-mmph!" Mana pried Atem's hand off of her mouth, her expression turning sheepish. "Whoops, right, not supposed to let other people know about that-but you're the one, right?" She waved her wand around enthusiastically as she spoke, her eyes and smile both bright as she looked up at the blond. "That's so incredible! I can practically see the magic floating all around you! What's your name? I'm Mana, by the way!"

"Yeah, that's me," the blond replied. This girl did seem to be quite the character, like everyone had been saying. He looked closer and realized that she looked like the Dark Magician Girl. So everyone here did look like someone, or some duel monster, that he knew. "Nice to meet you, I'm Joey." He reached out a hand to shake.

Mana's smile widened, and she took Joey's hand, giving it an enthusiastic shake. "Nice to meet you! So, what's it like in the future? Oh, wait, you're probably not allowed to answer that huh-okay, so how about how's it feel to be living in the past? It must be so cool, getting to experience living in a totally different time and place!"

When Mana finally let go of Joey's hand he could still feel it shaking up and down a little. "Um, well, it's different. Definitely the way you dress." He chuckled slightly, still not used to wearing a "dress."

"Ooh, so you dress differently in the future?" Mana smiled before pouting in frustration. "There's so much I want to ask about the future! Teacher is so mean, not letting you say anything..."

"Well, it would be bad to tell you about the future, it might change the past after all," Joey explained.

"I know, I know," Mana responded sulkily before brightening up. "Oh, but maybe you can ask us questions! I'm sure you have tons of questions about this time if it's so different from yours, right?"

"Um, uh," Joey's mind went blank. "I can't really think of anything right now..." He was sure he'd have some, but being put on the spot like this he couldn't think of anything.

Mana's friendly smile remained as she waved him off. "Don't worry about it! If you ever have any questions, you can come to me though!" Remembering Atem's presence, she turned to him and asked, "So Prince, what were you and Joey doing?"

Atem couldn't help but smile-other girls around Joey had bothered him, but this was Mana, and all he could see as he watched the two of them interact was his childhood friend and his new friend getting along. "Ah. I was just going to show him a few places where he could go to pass some time while I do my duties."

Mana grinned. "Great, then I'll come with you!" The energetic girl took one of Joey's hands and one of Atem's, tugging them both along. "Where to first? The gardens? The training grounds? Ooh, we can show him some of our secret spots too!"

Joey followed along with Mana holding his hand. Even though she was a girl he didn't feel awkward like with the servant girls. There was something about her, more like she was his little sister. "It's getting kind of hot out, I think you mentioned a pool earlier? Or what that just me hoping?" Joey laughed a little.

Mana brightened up. "Oh, you mean Prince's pool? You like to swim too?" She started leading the way towards where Atem's private pool was. "I think I use Prince's pool more than he does," she added with a laugh.

"Sure, sounds like fun, but doesn't Atem need to go somewhere?" Joey glanced over at the other boy that was attached to Mana's other hand.

Atem chuckled. "I have no further duties to attend to today, so it's fine."

"Great! Then we should all go swimming!" Mana suggested with an excited grin. She led the two boys outside and through a path off to the side, walking along it until a large, crystal-clear pond came into sight. "Isn't it great? And it's all for us!"

"It's awesome," Joey smiled, "But do we have bathing suits?" He was getting the sneaking suspicion that they didn't have those back in this time.

Mana tilted her head slightly in confusion. "'Bathing suits'? Are those some future thing?" She pulled off her dress and tossed it aside along with her wand, leaving her in nothing but two separate pieces of cloth covering her, and she jumped into the water. Swimming up to the surface, she laughed and waved to the two boys. "Hurry up you slowpokes!"

"Yes, they are special clothes for swimming," Joey said, looking away as Mana took her dress off. Even so, he took his tunic off and jumped in after her. The water was very refreshing after the hot sun.

Atem watched the two of them with a smile but did not join in, instead rolling his tunic up to his knees and slipping out of his shoes before sitting down at the water's edge to put his feet in.

Mana pouted. "Princeeee! Don't be so boring, come in with us!"

Atem chuckled. "Mana, you know that I must be prepared to return to my duties at once if I'm needed; I can't do that if I'm soaking wet."

Joey didn't hear any of this as he was underwater. He slowly snuck up, still underwater, and grabbed Atem's ankles, pulling the unsuspecting boy into the water.

Atem yelped, instinctively closing his eyes as he was suddenly pulled into the water. He quickly moved up to the surface, sputtering and coughing to clear the water that he'd accidentally inhaled before yelling out an indignant, " _Joey!_ "

Mana had to clutch the water's edge for support as she started laughing, her laughter only growing as Atem rose to the surface. "Prince... Prince your hair... I...!" She doubled over with laughter once more—Atem's hair was amusing enough when it was in its normal style, but when it was wet... well between the multicolors and the odd cut lengths (and the fact that it was covering practically his entire face), it was a hilarious sight to behold, especially when coupled with his indignant and embarrassed expression.

Joey had to hold onto his middle because he was laughing so hard. "Ahahhaa, nice hair! Pfftt!" The blond fell over backwards, sending a wave of water to hit the other two. He then floated lazily on his back, treading the water every now and then.

Atem blushed heavily, pushing his hair out of his face and glaring at the two of them sulkily. "There is _nothing_ wrong with my hair!" he protested, yelping as he was hit with a wave of water that further soaked him. "... Well now that I am completely drenched, I'll be getting out," he grumbled, trying to pull himself up out of the water.

Mana giggled and shielded herself with her arms as a wave of water hit her, rolling her eyes at Atem's reaction. "Lighten up, Prince! We're just playing around!" She hugged Atem from behind, pulling him back into the water. "Just stay for a little longer, c'mon!"

Atem huffed. "... At least let me take off my tunic to let it dry." When Mana let go of him, he slipped out of his tunic and hefted the soaked clothing out of the water with some difficulty, waiting until Joey's eyes were closed as he floated on his back before wringing the water out over his head with a smirk. "Payback," was his one-word explanation as he casually made his way back to the water's edge, setting his clothing down to dry in the sun.

Joey sputtered as Atem rung the tunic out over his head. "Hey!" he shouted, straightening up and quickly swimming over to the pharaoh. Wrapping his arms around the smaller boy's waist, he dragged him underwater.

Atem's amusement was short-lived as Joey suddenly wrapped his arms around him and pulled him underwater, Atem just barely having the time to close his eyes and take a breath before he was fully submerged. He struggled, but the blond's grip was too strong, so he was unable to break free-but he was surprised to find that he wasn't worried about Joey trying to drown him; rather, he was merely indignant about being manhandled in such a fashion. (He was also far more embarrassed than he could say, with Joey's muscular chest pressed up against his back and his well-toned arms wrapped around him... he was torn between wanting Joey to remain oblivious of their position and wanting him to become aware and let him go so Atem could attempt to salvage what little dignity he had left.)

Joey finally came back up, still holding Atem up around his waist, the pharaoh's legs dangling in the air, making him look like a child being held up by his parent. "You're a tiny little thing, you need to eat more," Joey commented on how small the younger boy was before unceremoniously dropping him face first back into the water.

Atem's blush darkened heavily as he was lifted out of the water with ease, Joey's hands gripping him by the waist. "I am not _tiny!_ Now put me down this instant!" He was immediately made to regret this command as he was suddenly dropped face-first back into the water, and he quickly resurfaced, coughing and wiping the water out of his eyes so he could shoot Joey a glare in a poor attempt at covering up his embarrassment.

Mana laughed as she watched Joey tease Atem, inwardly pleased to see her best friend so relaxed (because though it might not be obvious to most people, to her it was clear as day that the young prince-turned-pharaoh was having a good time and being surprisingly open). While Atem was distracted with glaring at Joey, Mana took that opportunity to tackle-hug him from behind with a grin on her face, sending the two of them falling into the water. Even as Atem shot a glare over his shoulder once they resurfaced, she continued to laugh, her arms draped over Atem's shoulders from behind. "So, having fun yet, Prince?"

"If by 'having fun' you mean being forced underwater every few seconds, then yes, I am 'having fun,'" he responded dryly, though his tone was belied by the amused smile that tugged at the corners of his lips. "But I really should be getting out soon, before someone comes looking for me..."

Joey came up behind the two friends, draping his arms around both their shoulders. "Aww, leaving us so soon? We were just getting started." He laughed and ruffled Atem's wet hair, as best someone could ruffle wet hair that is.

Atem flushed as Joey joined in on the impromptu hug, his embarrassment made worse by the fingers that ruffled his wet hair (and not just because the action made his hair look completely ridiculous as it stuck up in random directions). "Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of spending all day playing around," he responded wryly, though his tone and expression both held a tone of regret as well-he _wanted_ to be able to relax and have fun with Joey and Mana for the rest of the evening, but he knew that he was lucky enough as it was to have gotten even just this much time to spend having fun with the two of them, and he didn't want to push his luck and have his priests and guards looking high and low for him; that would just result in more of a headache than it was worth.

"Ok," Joey relented, looking a little disappointed. "If you really have to go..." He turned to Mana, "Well, I really don't know you all that well, but I guess I'm with you until Atem comes back," he smiled a toothy grin and flipped his wet hair over his shoulder.

Atem pulled himself out of the water, wringing out his hair and taking a seat on the ground under the sun to dry off. "Well I didn't say I had to leave _right away_ , " he said with a quiet laugh. "Just that I had to get out of the water so I could dry off and redress in case someone comes looking for me."

Honestly, he probably _should_ return inside and see what other work needed to be done, but... well, the country wouldn't fall apart if he stayed outside for a _few_ more minutes, right? ... Or so he thought, until he heard a shout of "Pharaoh! My lord, come quickly!" from just outside the pathway to his private swimming area.

With a sigh, Atem rose to his feet, pulling his tunic back on and fixing his appearance as best as he could before responding. "What has happened?" he asked, frowning as he was told that a criminal was brought in and the priests needed him to watch over the Ka removal ritual. _There seems to be more and more evil Ka appearing recently..._ Atem glanced over at Joey with a brief smile. "Do you wish to come?" He didn't want to force Joey to come with him if he was having fun staying in the water, but he remembered that Joey had shown interest in Ka and he wanted to give the boy the option of what to do.

Joey got out of the water, shaking his head like a dog to get the water out of his hair. "Sure, I'll come with you." While staying and playing with Mana in the water would be fun, he had grown attached to Atem and liked to stay with him.

Atem had the foresight to step aside as Joey began getting out of the water, watching in amusement from a safe distance away as Joey shook his head dry. Inwardly, he was pleased that Joey had chosen to come with him (though he wasn't too pleased about the reason they had to leave in the first place), but outwardly he merely nodded in acknowledgement.

"Alright. I suppose we'll see you later, Mana," he added, shooting his childhood friend a brief smile and receiving a bright smile and a wave goodbye in response. Once Joey finished pulling his tunic and shoes back on, Atem led the way back to the palace, meeting up with the guard that had called for him and waving him off, allowing him to return to his post. "Joey, I want you to promise me one thing," he began seriously, glancing back at the blond. "You are to watch, but you cannot get involved no matter what—sit next to my throne and do not so much as rise to your feet, and if you must speak, keep your voice down so as not to distract my priests. Is that understood?"

Joey nodded in agreement. How bad could it be? He'd seen a lot of unpleasant things in his life. "Aye, aye, Captain!" he said, giving a mock salute and marching behind the younger boy.

Atem couldn't help but smile at Joey's silly display, muffling quiet laughter behind his hand. "Good, as long as you understand," he replied, his spirits lifted slightly by the blond's childlike behavior. He led the way into the throne room, the tension in the open area immediately wiping all traces of amusement off of his face as his expression returned to being serious, and he made his way over to the throne, taking a seat and wordlessly gesturing for Joey to do the same on the ground by the side of his throne.

He nodded to his priests to signal the beginning of the trial (as well as sending a warning look to Seth when he saw the annoyed expression on his face as he glanced at Joey), and the priests then signaled to the guards to bring the prisoner in. The young pharaoh had seen far too many of these Ka removal rituals in his young lifetime, but it never made it easier to hear the criminal begging and pleading their innocence; to hear Priest Karim weigh the sins of their past with the Millennium Scale and Priestess Isis to weigh the potential sins of their future with the Millennium Tauk; to watch Priest Aknadin peer into their soul with the Millennium Eye and Priest Shada open the gate to their soul with the Millennium Ankh, forcefully and painfully drawing forth the malicious Ka that caused them to sin... Atem could only look forward to the moment when Seth stepped up, pointing his Millennium Rod at the monster once it took form and sealing it away in a stone tablet, which was then carried out by a group of servants, signaling the end of the ceremony.

Joey impatiently shuffled around on the floor, getting the feeling something bad was about to happen. "Hey, they aren't actually going to kill someone, are they?" he whispered to the pharaoh.

Atem cracked a brief smile at Joey's concern. "The ceremony does not kill them, no; it is very painful, however." Atem winced as, as if on cue, the prisoner began to let out pained cries, dark shadows surrounding him as Shada stood before him with the Millennium Ankh against his chest. The shadows swirled around and gradually took form, and a group of servants quickly pulled a large stone tablet into the room as Seth stepped forward with his Millennium Rod in hand. "It's almost over; all that's left now is for Seth to seal the Ka away in that stone tablet, and since the prisoner was indeed being controlled by an evil Ka, he will be pardoned from his wrongdoings."

Joey stared in horrified fascination as the man writhed in pain. A huge monster that looked like the Great Moth Duel Monster came out of the man. The blond almost stood up, but didn't get very far after he remembered that Atem had said he shouldn't stand up. He sat back down and watched as the monster was sealed away in the stone tablet. "Is that like a giant Duel Monsters card? Seems really hard to move around...how can you duel with a deck of giant rocks?" Joey mused aloud to himself.

Atem glanced over at the blond, listening to his musings in a mixture of confusion, curiosity, and amusement. "Well, I can't answer the question of whether or not the stone tablet is like a 'giant Duel Monsters card' since I don't know what a 'Duel Monsters card' looks like, but if I'm understanding your second question correctly, then the answer is that you don't move the stone tablets—you summon the spirits to your side with your Ba and the use of a DiaDhank." He gestured to the gold bangle around his left wrist, pressing a small switch on it to open the disk for Joey to see before pressing it again to re-close it.

"Wow, it's like an ancient Egyptian Duel Disk. Kaiba totally stole his idea from Egypt too." Joey was, of course, referring to how Maximillion Pegasus, the creator of Duel Monsters, had taken the idea for the cards from Ancient Egyptian artifacts. He never would have imagined that they had sometime like that this far back in time.

"'Duel Disk'?" Atem echoed in curiosity, before shaking his head. "Never mind, it's probably for the best if you don't explain—though if I recall correctly, this 'Kaiba' was the one you mistook Seth for, so perhaps it's possible that if there was a connection between the two of them, he might have come up with the idea for this 'Duel Disk' from a memory of this time."

With a frown, he added, "I can't say for sure what the connection between this time and yours is, but there seems to be a lot of parallels and similarities from what you've told me... so even though it seems far-fetched, there might be a connection between them, as there might be between myself and this 'Yugi' that you mentioned, or Mahaad and 'Dark Magician' and Mana and 'Dark Magician Girl'."

He was about to say something else when Mahaad discreetly approached them, and he rose from his throne in response, taking note of the serious expression on the priest's face. "You bear news of...?" He trailed off, glancing meaningfully at Joey before turning his attention back to Mahaad.

Mahaad offered the pharaoh a bow as he approached the throne, nodding in response to his question and speaking quietly. "I have discovered a way to return him to his time," he replied, though his expression remained grim despite the good news. "However, there's something that you should know..."

Atem frowned worriedly. "Something we should know?" He echoed warily, unsure of what Mahaad was going to say but knowing just from his expression that it wouldn't be pleasant news.

Mahaad let out a quiet sigh. "The spell required to transcend time... it is feasible to cast, but only under very specific circumstances," he began. "I will require the aid of all of the priests, as well as you, my pharaoh—the millennium items may be the only objects with enough magic to perform the spell successfully."

"Consider it done," Atem replied without hesitation before adding, "But there's more, isn't there?"

"It doesn't involve human sacrifice, does it? Because I am not cool with that," Joey butting in when he probably should've stayed quiet.

Mahaad cracked a brief, amused smile. "No, no human sacrifices are required," he replied wryly, before his expression returned to being serious. "The spell can only be performed at a very specific time: on the night where the sow swallows the moon. If we miss this opportunity... he will be forced to remain in our time for two to three more years, until the next opportunity arises."

"So how does a pig swallow the moon?" Joey asked, very confused.

Atem chuckled. "That is the name for the time once every few years when the moon becomes entirely engulfed in shadows," he explained, before frowning and turning his attention back to Mahaad. "If that's the case, then begin the preparations immediately—we have three weeks, and we are not going to miss this opportunity."

Mahaad nodded in understanding. "As you wish, I will begin the preparations immediately—on the night of the shadowed moon, I will have the circle prepared in the courtyards where he first appeared; we will perform the ritual there to send him home." With a frown, he added, "Please keep in mind that this is time-sensitive, so do not go wandering off, or you will miss this opportunity."

"What am I gonna do for three weeks?" Joey wondered aloud, thinking he was going to get very bored just followed Atem around and watching his boring pharaoh duties the whole time. He wanted some action! "I wonder if time is still going on at the same rate as here? Does everyone not know where I am?" He shook his head, "And I'm missing school! I'm gonna flunk all my classes!" he said in despair.

"Well, I didn't get to finish showing you the places where you can entertain yourself in the palace," Atem responded. "There are plenty of things you can do, so long as you don't get yourself in any trouble."

"As for the matter of time," Mahaad added, "It's difficult to say, but I am fairly certain that time is not passing at the same rate here as it is in your time—however, I cannot say whether it's passing slower or faster in your time than it is here, so you will only be able to find out just how much—or how little—time passed once you return home."

"So it's possible that not much time has gone by?" Joey relaxed a little. This was good, if he'd only been gone for a short time it wouldn't be a problem. The blond boy rubbed his hands together. "Looks like I have some time to kill now." He turned to Atem, "What's next? More swimming? Maybe a hike?" His stomach growled for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Lunch?"

Atem chuckled. "We can have lunch in my room, and then I will show you around the palace some more-and later tonight if you want, we can go swimming again." He nodded to Mahaad, who gave them both a bow before excusing himself, and once he was gone the pharaoh gestured for Joey to follow him as he walked out of the throne room. "What sort of activities do you usually perform to keep yourself entertained throughout the day?"

Joey followed Atem, eager for more food. "Well, I hang out with Yugi and the gang, playing games and watching TV and stuff."

Atem stopped to ask a servant to have a meal prepared and brought to his room before turning his attention back to Joey, continuing to walk down the hallway as he spoke. "Well I don't know what this 'TV' is that you watch, but there are plenty of games that we could play." It was difficult to keep the excitement out of his voice as he spoke, but he did his best—after all, it would be embarrassing for the pharaoh to get excited over the idea of playing games, no matter how much he loved them (and no matter how much he bemoaned not having very many people to play them with).

"Really, what kind of games do you have to play?" Joey was interested. He had heard that lots of games originated in Egypt and he wanted to see them. Admittedly, he had a sneaking suspicion that if Atem was anything like the Yugi he knew, he would wipe the floor with him with games. Joey didn't really mind though, he just wanted something fun to do while he waited to be brought back to his time. Also, he didn't want to admit it, but he still did need to rest and recover from the injuries retained while he was locked in the dungeon with that bastard Seth torturing him.

"Plenty of different kinds!" he responded brightly. "There's Mehen, and Senet, and Aseb, and Hounds and Jackals... all different types of board games," he elaborated when he realized that Joey wouldn't recognize the games' names. "I have them in my room; I can show them to you once we finish eating if you'd like. They're fairly simple once you know the basic rules."

He opened the door to his bedroom (or their bedroom, rather, since Joey would be staying with him for the next three weeks according to Mahaad) and went inside. "Of course, there's also outdoor games, but I believe we should wait until your body is in better shape before playing any of those." With a frown, he added, "Speaking of which... we should probably change your bandages since you went in the water with them before."

Atem was right that Joey hadn't heard of any of the games he was talking about. "Alright, I'll give them a try," he smiled; remember how happy Yugi looked when he talked about games. Atem got the same look (it helped that he had practically the same face too). "And yeah, I think my bandages do need to be changed." He glanced down and noticed with a bit of surprise that one of the wounds on his arm was bleeding again. With the swimming and everything that had already happened that day he had completely forgotten about his injuries. "Yeah, looks like it, definitely." He winced a little as he finally felt the pain now that he had stopped moving.

Atem frowned worriedly as he noticed that one of the wounds on Joey's arms had reopened. "Come, let's do that now before the food arrives." He led Joey into the bathroom, sitting him down before going and getting fresh bandages and antiseptics. "Alright, now take off your tunic and I'll clean and re-bandage all of your wounds."

"More stripping, eh? I'm beginning to get the idea that you LIKE to see me naked," Joey chuckled. He was joking, but something at the back of his mind tried to tell him that maybe, just maybe, Atem did. The blond shook his head to clear the thought away. That really couldn't be the case, right? After all, in his time Yugi liked Téa, right? Though he had yet to see anyone in this time that looked like her.

Atem blushed heavily at the teasing statement. "You know as well as I do that it's just to change your bandages—I can't change the ones under your clothing without you taking it off," he argued weakly, busying himself with carefully taking off Joey's bandages so he didn't have to look the blond in the eye. Admitting to himself that such a thing might be true was one thing, but there was no way that he could possibly admit such a thing aloud, let alone to the object of his... _interests_ of all people (and how could he _not_ be interested in someone with as well-toned of a body and as interesting of a personality as Joey?)

Joey let out a hearty laugh at Atem's embarrassment. "Dude, I'm joking. I know you have to take my clothes off to get to the bandages, I'm not stupid." The blond slipped his tunic off over his head, glad that he could at least keep the underwear on so he wasn't completely naked.

Atem's blush darkened as Joey laughed. "I knew you were joking, and I know you're not stupid," he mumbled, continuing to keep his eyes on Joey's wounds and his hands busy with the bandages to avoid looking at the blond. He jerked in a mixture of surprise and embarrassment when his hand accidentally brushed against Joey's bare skin, and he quickly muttered an apology, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious—it was difficult to tell whether the blond had seriously noticed anything, or if he was just uncannily on the mark with his jokes without even realizing it, but the harder Atem tried to repress his thoughts and feelings, the more they began to swim around his head and fluster him.

Joey managed to behave and sit still long enough for Atem to finished changing his bandages. "So I'm really stuck here for a three whole weeks, eh? Hopefully you can put up with me for that long," the blond said jokingly. He put his tunic back on and stood up, towering over the short boy who was still sitting on the floor.

Atem was grateful that Joey remained oblivious to his flustered state, the lack of additional commentary helping him calm down enough to will his blush away as he finished cleaning and re-bandaging Joey's wounds. When the blond finally spoke, a frown tugged at the corners of the pharaoh's lips. "It isn't a matter of 'putting up with you,' Joey—in fact, _I_ should be the one telling _you_ that." With a wry smile, he added, "After all, you've seemed very bored for the majority of the time that you've spent here, so I hope I won't continue to bore you for the entirety of your stay." He glanced up as Joey pulled his tunic back on and stood up, briefly marveling over the boy's height (and well-toned legs) before rising to his feet as well. "The food should be arriving soon, so let's return to the dining area."

Joey followed Atem. It was still a little weird sharing a room with the younger boy. He was beginning to notice Atem sneaking glances at him out of the corner of his eye when he thought Joey wasn't looking. Could he actually have a thing for him? The blond found himself staring long and hard at the Pharaoh. Was it possible? Come to think of it he hadn't shown any interest in any female they had seen so far, and he had said that he didn't have a girlfriend...could he...like guys? Could he like HIM? Joey wasn't quite sure how he felt about this. He'd never had a girl he really liked, but he'd also never had any interest in boys either. He'd never really given it much thought, he'd been too busy just trying to survive.

Atem came to a stop in his ( _their_ ) bedroom, flushing as he glanced over at Joey only to find the blond staring at him. "Um... is something the matter?" He asked weakly, wondering what could have prompted such an intense stare from the boy. There was a knock at the door and, relieved, Atem took advantage of the distraction as he immediately rushed over to the door to open it, letting the servants in so they could bring in their food.

Joey stared even more intently at Atem. "Do you...like me? And I don't mean as a friend." With Joey's personality he couldn't help but just point blank ask what he was thinking.

Atem blinked, taken aback by the sudden, blunt question. Had he been able to think coherently (or at all) at the moment, he would have been relieved that the servants had already left the room before Joey asked that question—but as it was, it took all that he had to even so much as stammer out a, "Why would you ask something like that?" Turning his attention to making himself a plate of food in an attempt to hide his blush, he added in as steady of a tone as he could muster under the circumstances, "We're both men and we met just a few days ago... unless this is some sort of roundabout confession on your part?" Turning the question around on Joey was much easier than trying to outright answer the question himself.

Joey blushed, his mind reeling at the thought of him being in love with Atem. He was right; they were both men and had only known each other for a few days. "But you didn't answer my question," Joey insisted. "Do you like me?" he repeated.

Atem took a small bit of satisfaction in the way Joey blushed at his question, as well as in the fact that he didn't exactly deny the claim. "And you didn't answer my question, so I believe we're at an impasse. Now come, let's put this talk aside and eat."

"No, you keep avoiding the question. I see the way you look at me, like Yugi looks at Téa when he thinks nobody's looking." This had been bothering Joey for long enough that he needed an answer. "If you do, just spit it out already!" he said, much more loudly and harshly than he had intended. He didn't really want this to turn into a fight, but his stubbornness wouldn't let him back down.

Atem hardly had the chance to question who this 'Téa' was (or defend himself against the claim of looking at Joey, which caused him to blush heavily—he hadn't realized that the other boy had noticed his not-so-occasional glances) before Joey suddenly started raising his voice, and he nervously glanced at the door, letting out a relieved sigh when no one burst in to see if anything was wrong.

"Please lower your voice, unless you want my guards coming in here and mistaking you for a threat," Atem said, before asking, "Why does it matter so much whether I do or don't... like you? Regardless of my answer, it shouldn't matter since you have no feelings beyond friendship towards me."

Joey stared, that was just one step short of Atem admitting he liked him as more than a friend. "I need to think about this..." He quickly left the room, forgetting all about lunch.

"... I think that was all the answer you needed to give," Atem murmured as Joey rushed out of the room, smiling humorlessly as he started cleaning up the food—he didn't exactly have much of an appetite anymore. His heart clenched as he glanced over at where his games sat collecting dust, sighing as he figured that they would remain that way; there was no way Joey would want to even be around him anymore, let alone play games with him. _It's my fault, though; I should have just lied and outright told him no. I was a fool for thinking that perhaps he might..._ Shaking his head, Atem sullenly left the room, for once willingly going to seek out work that needed to be done in order to distract himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Joey wandered around the palace, not paying any attention to where he was going. He just needed to get away, to clear his head. This was a lot to process all at once. So Atem really did like him, he hadn't outright said it, but he might as well have. Joey didn't know how to respond to it at all. He'd never had anyone tell them they loved him as more than a friend. He was surprised to find that he wasn't entirely repulsed by the idea. He'd never imagined himself with a guy, let alone someone who looked so much like his best friend, but he wasn't really against the idea. He just hadn't considering it before. Would it even work? After all, in a few weeks he'd go back to his own time and never see Atem again, right? The blond let out a loud sigh, his head hurt and he was very, very confused and really wished he hadn't been so brash back there. Atem probably hated him now.

Atem wasn't sure how much time had passed between when he left the bedroom and when he had thrown himself into his work, but as he found himself squinting from lack of light as he attempted to read through the parchment in front of him, he realized that it had to have been a good few hours at least. He debated lighting a candle and continuing to work through the night in an attempt to avoid returning to his bedroom (and potentially facing Joey) before deciding against it—while he was often scolded for not taking his duties seriously enough, he had a feeling that his priests (or Mahaad and Siamun, at least) would scold him if they found out that he'd worked for the entire night.

With that in mind, Atem sighed and rose to his feet, slipping out of the room and heading out to the courtyard, walking along the private path that led to his swimming area. _A nice, quiet swim will help me clear my thoughts..._ Knowing that no one would see him here, Atem stripped, setting every last article of clothing and jewelry aside before smoothly diving into the water, immediately feeling much calmer in the cool water and under the dim moonlight.

Joey decided that going to the pond that he'd swam in with Atem and Mana that morning would be a good way to clear his head and let him sort out this mess. It was dark now so he didn't see Atem's discarded clothes and jewelry on the bank. He stripped off all of his clothes just as Atem had done a few minutes before and slipped into the water, completely naked and unaware that the pharaoh was just under the water.

Atem only became aware of someone else's presence as he felt the water shift, and he quickly rose to the surface, looking around warily—after all, the only people who had permission to enter this place were Mana, Mahaad, and... _Those are Joey's clothes—that means...!_ Atem's face turned bright red, and he quickly turned around as soon as that familiar head of blond hair broke the surface of the water.

"Joey, what— wh-when did you—?" Shaking his head, he forced his expression into one of indifference despite his blush as he politely turned his gaze away; not wanting to make Joey feel any more uncomfortable than he already did today. "My apologies, I didn't realize you were planning on coming here. I'll... leave, sorry."

"No, that's not what I want at all." Even though he was still embarrassed and blushing, Joey couldn't help sneaking a peek behind him to catch a glimpse of Atem. He got a good view of his behind, his rather nice looking little behind...He quickly looked away before Atem saw him looking. Maybe he did like Atem as more than a friend. "I-I," he started, his face still bright red, "I might like you too. I don't know, I'm very confused." He wanted to bury his face in the water out of embarrassment.

Atem was relieved to hear that Joey still wanted to be around him, but he didn't dare to hope for anything more than that—not until Joey continued to speak, anyway. "A-ah, well... it's alright, you don't have to... come to any conclusions just yet, I suppose," he responded, his face burning and his heart lifting—Joey wasn't necessarily returning his feelings, but he definitely wasn't rejecting them either, and that was more than enough for Atem at the moment.

"I'm still... rather confused on the matter myself—I mean," he began, firmly keeping his gaze on the surrounding shrubbery out of embarrassment, "I know for sure that there's... attraction, but I have never felt anything beyond that towards anyone before, so... it's difficult to say just what my feelings are, especially since we only just met each other recently." With a slight smile, he added, "But I suppose we have a few weeks to figure things out, right?"

"Yeah, I've never felt this way either, I'm not really sure what to say besides just take it as it comes," Joey rubbed the back of his head, chuckling slightly at his own lameness. "Well, I guess we should hit the hay, it's getting late." The blond picked Atem up out of the water, thinking he'd help him out of the water since his feet didn't even reach the bottom he was so short.

Atem let out what could only be described as a startled squeak as he suddenly felt hands gripping his bare waist, lifting him out of the water with ease. "Wh— y-you— what are you doing?!" He hastily grabbed his clothes as soon as he could reach them, quickly covering himself up and trying in vain to will away the heavy blush that was heating up his face.

Joey let go of Atem, not really sure why he had suddenly grabbed him and only now realizing how awkward this all was. "Sorry, I thought I was helping." He continued to blush as much as Atem was and grabbed his clothes as well, quickly slipping them on. This would be so much less awkward once they were both clothed. Even so, he couldn't help looking at Atem. Admittedly, he'd always been attractive, but Joey didn't really pay much attention to it. Now that they had both basically admitted that they might like the other, he gave the boy a closer look. Atem was short and petite yes, but even so he had some lithe muscles to him. The most striking thing about him though, ignoring the crazy tri-colored hair, were those large, intense purple eyes. Joey found himself staring at them.

"Ah, n-no, it's fine... you didn't mean anything by it," Atem quickly responded, not wanting Joey to feel too guilty when he obviously had no ulterior motive beyond genuinely wanting to help. He was so focused on pulling his clothing back on (and pointedly not looking at Joey out of embarrassment) that he was completely oblivious to the blond's blatant staring until their eyes happened to meet, and Atem found his blush quickly returning full-force at the intensity of his stare. "Um... is something wrong...?"

Joey realized he had been staring and looked away. "Oh no, nothing. It's nothing." He was still blushing. Was his whole three week stay here going to be like this the entire time? He wasn't sure he'd like that at all. He started walking back to their room but stopped and turned around. "So I haven't actually eaten anything since breakfast, but I don't really want to bother anyone but...I'm hungry." He looked down at his feet, not wanted to keep asking for stuff.

Atem was more than willing to let the subject drop, a blush still lingering on his own face. He started walking as well, stopping when Joey did blinking in confusion before chuckling. "That's right, neither of us really had the chance to eat..." Secretly finding Joey's expression cute, he couldn't help but smile as he responded, "You're never a bother, Joey-I'll have a servant bring a fresh meal to our room so we can eat."

"But aren't they asleep? I don't want to bother them either." Joey was feeling like he was being a pain and causing everyone trouble at the moment.

"Servants sleep in shifts, so there's always someone awake at any time," Atem responded, hesitating before taking Joey's hand and giving it a light squeeze, a reassuring smile on his face. "I promise, you aren't being a bother to anyone. Now come, let's go inside."

Joey was a little surprised that Atem was holding his hand, but he didn't object to it, just obediently followed him, letting him hold his hand until they got back to the room. Even then he only gently pulled his hand away when the servants brought the food in. It was nice...a little weird and hard to get used to, but it was nice all the same.

Atem hadn't even realized that he was still holding on to Joey's hand until they returned to the room, his blush returning as he murmured an apology. He quickly turned his attention to the food being brought into the room, thanking the servants before taking a seat and helping himself to a small portion.

Joey, in contrast, wolfed down the rest of the food. Once he was full to bursting he pulled off his tunic and flopped down on the bed, arms and legs spread out wide. "I think I ate too much," he said, a dazed expression on his face. He then promptly fell asleep, still sprawled out all over the bed.

Atem still couldn't help but watch in awe as Joey ate a huge portion of food at an almost inhumanly fast rate, barely even remembering to touch his own meager portion. He watched in amusement as Joey threw himself onto the bed as soon as he took off his tunic, chuckling quietly and finishing his own meal before taking off his tunic and going to join Joey in bed. It took a bit of maneuvering, but Atem somehow managed to fit himself into the bed without waking the blond up, and though he was extremely embarrassed by their close proximity, there was something comfortable and right about having Joey this close to him. Before he knew it, the young pharaoh had drifted off into a pleasant, dreamless sleep.

...

Joey woke up to find that sometime during the night he had wrapped Atem up in a hug. He didn't move at first, his half asleep brain only partially processing what was happening. Then what had happened yesterday came back to him. Atem actually liked him, it was still a little weird for Joey but he could accept it more now. It was nice and warm with Atem's back pressed against his chest and Joey didn't want to move so he quietly lay there, waiting for the younger boy to wake up, curious to see how he'd react to the position they were in.

Atem gradually awakened the next morning to the feeling of warmth pressed against him and arms wrapped around him. He shifted in his half-asleep state, turning over in Joey's hold and burrowing against his chest without thinking before drifting back off to sleep with a smile.

Joey smiled at Atem; gently stroking his hair like a father would a small child. "You gonna wake up, sleepy head?" he teased, pulling Atem in for a tighter hug.

Atem let out a pleased sigh as he felt fingers gently running through his hair. "Mm... 's warm... five more minutes...," he mumbled, gradually beginning to wake up but finding himself unwilling to move. It was only when he woke up enough to properly process who was hugging him and whose chest he was resting against that his eyes shot open, his face flooding with color. "J-Joey? What— why— this is— I didn't— p-please release me before someone comes in here," he stammered, weakly attempting to pull away out of embarrassment.

Joey giggled, ruffling Atem's hair and messing it up further. "Aww, but you obviously like it. You're the pharaoh, you gotta get to do some things you like sometimes." Even so, he moved his arms from around Atem so he could get up.

Atem's blush darkened. "It's _because_ I'm the pharaoh that I can't do what I want," he muttered, reluctantly pulling away and sitting up. Thankfully no one had come in and seen the two of them in such an... intimate position (or if anyone had, they'd been very quiet about it, and between his servants and his priests he could only think of perhaps one or two people who would keep quiet about such a thing were they to find out), but Atem wasn't willing to push his luck any further despite wanting to do nothing but lie in bed against Joey for the entirety of the day, especially now that he knew that Joey had accepted and was more-or-less returning his feelings.

"Being the pharaoh doesn't sound like much fun, to be honest." Joey got up from the bed, stretching and yawning loudly. He's actually rather enjoyed snuggling with Atem like that; he thought he wouldn't mind doing more things like that. He blushed a little at the thought, turning his head away so Atem wouldn't see.

Atem shrugged. "It's not exactly meant to be fun," he replied with a wry smile, completely missing the blush on Joey's face as he moved out of bed and got dressed. "Most people would think that it's an incredible honor, being someone so close to the gods, but I would honestly rather be treated like a normal person than like some divine being."

Joey leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the forehead before Atem put his crown on. "But you're really just a human being like the rest of us." The blond grinned widely down at the short boy. "You're not Superman."

Atem's eyes widened in shock at the sudden kiss to his forehead, his face heating up from his neck all the way to the tips of his ears and a startled squeak slipping out in place of any coherent words. The young pharaoh took a few seconds to try and force his brain to function once more before opening his mouth to speak, his voice quiet but sincere as his gaze shyly fell to the floor. "Thank you—I... have never had anyone say such a thing to me before."

"I bet it wasn't allowed," Joey said, his face darkening. "I really would hate being a pharaoh, too many rules and responsibilities."

Atem smiled humorlessly. "You're right—had someone heard you say that just now, it would have been automatic grounds for execution. That's why I appreciate it all the more; no one has ever had the courage nor the desire to ever say such things to me before." He chuckled quietly. "Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice in the matter of becoming pharaoh, and it isn't exactly a job that one can just quit."

"It's hereditary, like being a king, right?" Joey scratched his head thoughtfully. "But couldn't you go on a trip or something? Get away for a while? Is that sort of thing allowed? You gotta get a vacation sometime."

"The title of pharaoh is passed along from son to son, yes," Atem responded. "Unfortunately, a god gets no 'vacations,' and neither does a pharaoh—were I to leave the throne, there would be no one to keep order, and the country would fall to ruin."

"Seriously? You don't even get a day off? That sucks. You don't have any time to do what you want to do?" Being pharaoh seemed more like a punishment than anything else to Joey.

Atem laughed quietly. "Well I try and take some time for myself even if I shouldn't, but even then it's only a few hours at the most; I can't take a full day off, I have too many responsibilities to take care of."

"And what are your responsibilities for today?" Joey asked. He was so glad that their "fight" the day before hadn't lasted very long and they could still talk normally like this. It would have been agonizing if they awkwardly didn't talk to each other the rest of the time Joey was there.

Atem sighed. "Nothing interesting, I can assure you of that—you can do what you want for the day, unless you wish to join me once more in the throne room to listen to my people bicker and complain for hours on end." With a teasing smile, he added, "Though you did seem to enjoy sitting by my throne and having me play with your hair last time, so perhaps you'd like to join me once more after all?"

Joey found himself blushing at the mention of that, he had forgotten about Atem playing with his hair. Though, admittedly, he had enjoyed it. "Well, if you want me to come with you, I don't have anything better to do..."

Atem was pleased as his words prompted the desired result in the form of a(n adorable) blush on Joey's face, though he was surprised that Joey was actually willing to take him up on his half-joking offer. "Of course I would never say no to having your company, but are you sure you want to come? I'm not forcing you to if you'd rather not."

"Well, we saw what happens when I wander off by myself...And I really have no idea where Mana is. I think I'd rather just stick with you, even if it is boring," Joey chuckled. Still, he hoped that Atem would play with his hair again. Was it weird that he was thinking that? He was like a dog that liked to be petted.

Atem smiled. "Fair enough. Alright, then let's go." With that, Atem led the way out of the room and through the hallways leading up to a large set of ornate doors, which opened to reveal the throne room. With a quiet, resigned sigh, Atem took his seat on the throne, bracing himself for the next few hours of senseless bickering that he would have to endure.

Joey plopped down on the floor next to the throne, making sure his head was within reach of Atem's hand. As he had expected would happen, he started to doze off after about only ten minutes of the session.

Atem tried his best to repress a smile as he saw how Joey was purposely sitting within arm's reach of him, and he was more than happy to fulfill his unspoken request as he reached out and ran his fingers through his hair, trying not to laugh as he glanced over after a few minutes and already saw him starting to doze off.

Joey was very bored; the only thing making this bearable was Atem petting him. He tried to hold back a yawn but failed. Couldn't they go do something interesting now?

Atem winced slightly as Siamun shot him a glare in response to Joey yawning, though he couldn't blame the blond—if Atem didn't have Joey's hair to play with to keep him awake, he'd probably be dozing off himself right about now. He pat Joey's head, cracking a small smile and murmuring, "Just hold on for a bit longer, we're almost done here."

Once the session was over Joey stood up and yawned. "That really was boring. Do you have any horses around here? I've never seen a horse in person before."

Atem stood up and stretched a bit once the throne room cleared out, chuckling as Joey spoke. "Yes, it really was, but I did give you the option of not coming with me—and yes, of course there are horses. Come, I'll take you to the stable, and if you'd like you can try riding a horse as well."

Joey chuckled. "Yeah, but I would have been just as bored without you, and I'd rather be bored with you than without you." He perked up at the mention of the horses. "Cool, I'd like that."

Atem blushed lightly and smiled as Joey spoke. "And I would prefer to be bored with you than without you as well, so I thank you for your company." He led Joey out of the throne room and through the hallways leading outside to the stables, inside of which were plenty of different breeds of horses. "Pick whichever you like, and I can show you how to ride."

Joey looked the horses over, his eyes settling on a large bay stallion. He stepped up to the horse and reached out a hand slowly to pet him. "This one," he said, choosing the largest horse in the stable.

Atem watched as Joey looked the horses over, somehow not surprised when he came to a stop in front of the largest horse in the stable. "Alright." He led the horse out of the stable before turning to face Joey. "Have you ever had any experience riding horses back in your time?"

"Um, no, like I said, I've never even seen a horse in person before." Joey was a little nervous now looking up at the large animal. He gently stroked his nose, having second thoughts about actually riding now.

Atem chuckled. "Well you went straight for the largest one, so I couldn't help but wonder," he teased. "Though he seems to like you, so perhaps you won't have as difficult of a time as I expected you would. First, try lifting yourself up onto the horse's back."

"Is there a saddle or something?" Not having anything to hold onto was going to make this rather hard. Joey grabbed a hold of the horse's mane and tried to pull himself onto his back. He lost his grip and ended up landing on his behind on the ground.

"I have never heard of this 'saddle' that you speak of, so no, I'm afraid there isn't one," Atem responded, muffling a laugh behind his hand as he watched Joey try and fail to get himself onto the horse. "Perhaps you would like to start with a smaller one after all?"

Joey looked determinedly up at the horse. "No, I want this one." He stepped back from the horse, giving himself a running start, and leapt onto the horse, grabbing onto his mane to pull himself on. "Ahah! I did it!" the blond let out a victory cry. Unfortunately, the horse was not expecting this unfamiliar boy to suddenly jump on his back and start screaming, and was spooked. The horse set off at a gallop, taking poor Joey, who was clinging on for dear life, with him.

Atem barely had the chance to warn Joey that what he was about to attempt probably was not a good idea before the blond suddenly leaped onto the horse and pulled himself up with the horse's mane. He cursed under his breath as the horse suddenly took off with Joey on its back, and he quickly rushed back into the stable, getting onto his horse and taking off after the blond. The pharaoh pushed his horse as fast as it could go until he was riding alongside Joey, and he let go of the reins to lean over and try and calm Joey's horse, thinking only of Joey's safety and not of his own as he precariously balanced atop his own galloping horse.

Joey finally came to his senses and pulled on the reins of the horse, screaming "STOP" at the top of his lungs. The horse skidded to a halt, snorting and protesting at the harsh bit in his mouth. Joey shakily got down from the horse, barely being able to walk in a straight line after the ordeal. Only then did he notice that Atem was hanging half off his horse in a rather haphazard position. He ran over and stood in front of Atem's horse, which came to a standstill when it saw Joey in the way (it was definitely smarter than the horse Joey had been riding). Joey wrapped his arms around Atem and pulled him off the horse. "I think I'd better try a different horse," he said, a little sheepishly.

Atem nearly fell off his horse at the sudden shout and movement from Joey, biting his tongue to keep from cursing as he tried to pull himself back into a proper position so he could stop his own horse. Thankfully, his horse had the sense to stop without a command, and he blushed lightly as Joey lifted him off his horse and onto the ground. "Yes, I believe that would be a good idea," he responded wryly, inwardly relieved that Joey was unharmed. "Perhaps you should try riding my horse instead."

"That sounds like a good idea, yes," Joey agreed, looking Atem's white horse up and down. It was far smaller and more intelligent looking than the bay he had tried to ride. "Now, what is the proper way to get on without scaring the horse?"

"Well for starters, don't throw yourself onto the horse and start yelling," he responded wryly before giving Joey a smile. "Watch me, and then try and do as I do." Atem reached up to carefully but firmly grip the horse, lifting himself up and swinging a leg over the horse's side so he was properly seated before jumping off. "Alright, now you try."

It took Joey a few tries, but he did manage to get himself on the horse without scaring it. "Ok, now how do I make it go?" He was a little wary to try anything after the last horse.

Atem smiled proudly once Joey managed to get himself onto the horse. "Just hold the reins and give a light kick-here, let me show you." Without hesitation, Atem lifted himself onto the horse behind Joey, reaching around him to grip the reins and giving the horse a light kick to coax it into a slow trot.

Joey blushed at Atem's arms around his waist. "Ok, now how do I steer?" He didn't know anything at all about how to ride a horse. "Do I do something with the reins?" The blond boy tilted his head to the side in confusion, trying to look at Atem, but having a hard time because he was sitting directly behind him.

"Yes, you use the reins to guide the horse," Atem responded, letting Joey hold the reins and putting his hands on top of Joey's to help him get the feel for steering the horse.

Joey was glad that Atem couldn't see his face at the moment; he was blushing so hard at Atem touching him. "Alright, so like this." He was slowly starting to get the hang of guiding the horse. "So, do you want to go anywhere? Is there somewhere we can go besides the stable yard?" Joey wanted to go on an adventure, and what better way was there than going on the back of a horse like a hero in a fantasy story?

"Unfortunately, I cannot leave the palace without a proper escort-it's far too dangerous," Atem responded with a frown, comfortably resting his head against Joey's back. "And of course it goes without saying that it's far too dangerous for you to go out on your own, too. If we wanted to go anywhere, we would have to sneak out, which is far too difficult-trust me, I've tried," he added wryly. "With Mahaad in charge of security, there's nowhere that I could sneak out from that he wouldn't know about and have guards stationed at."

"Aw man, you never get to have any fun," Joey complained. "Isn't there somewhere inside the palace we could ride, or is that not allowed as well?"

"You're telling me," he muttered, also slightly annoyed by his lack of freedom, especially now that he had someone that he wanted to actually do fun things with (besides Mana of course). "Well unless you want to ride through the palace hallways, then no, there isn't anywhere inside that we could ride," he responded with a wry chuckle.

Joey sighed, dismounting the horse. "So what now?" he asked, already running out of ideas of things to do.

Atem dismounted as well, impulsively leaning up to give Joey a kiss on the cheek before taking the reins of his horse in his hand. "Now we bring the horses back to the stable, and after that, perhaps you'd like to visit the training grounds?"

Joey blushed at the kiss. "Um, uh, sure I'd like that." He went and caught his horse, which had been grazing on the sparse vegetation this whole time, and led him back to his stall.

Atem smiled, both pleased and amused by how flustered Joey was from the kiss. The two of them led the horses back to the stable, and once Atem made sure that they were properly away, he led Joey back inside and through the hallways to another section of the palace, leading out to a wide open area with walls filled with practice weaponry and training dummies lined up to practice against. "Do you have any experience with weaponry?"

"Um, unless yo-yos or RPG's count, no." Joey was interested to learn though. It would be really cool to use a sword or something.

"Well you would be the one to know if those counted since I'm not entirely sure what they even are," Atem responded with a quiet laugh, gesturing for the blond to follow him over to the wall filled with weaponry for training. "Pick whichever catches your eye—though I would hope that this time you'll not go straight for the biggest one you can find," he added teasingly, knowing that neither of them wanted a repeat of the horse situation.

"Pfft," Joey scoffed, "As if I'd make the same mistake twice." Even though he said that, the largest weapon in the collection did catch his eye first, but he quickly dismissed it since it would likely be too heavy for him to even lift. Instead, he picked a medium size sword with a nice feel to it.

Atem chuckled, following Joey's gaze as it immediately moved to the largest weapon available as he figured it would, though he had to give Joey credit as he reached for a sword that was a better size for him to handle. Atem himself took his wooden khopesh off of the wall, twirling it idly in his hand before pointing it at Joey, his eyes gleaming mischievously. "How about we play a game?"

"What kind of game?" Joey didn't think he'd be allowed to have a sword fight with the pharaoh, not even a mock one, without being dragged off by the guards.

Atem smirked slightly in amusement at Joey's expression. "If you're worried about doing anything physical, rest assured—the guards have been ordered by Mahaad not to lay a finger on you. Now then, as for the game..." He teasingly poked Joey in the chest with the sword. "Just a simple match, really: first one to land a strike wins—and because I don't want to beat you too quickly, we can make it two out of three. Winner gets to have the loser do whatever they want for the rest of the night; how does that sound?"

"Um, sure, I'm game." Joey hefted the sword experimentally, trying to get a feel for it. "I don't really wanna hurt you though..." He looked the smaller boy up and down; afraid he'd use too much strength and hurt him.

Atem raised an eyebrow. "Joey, just because I'm small doesn't mean I'm weak, you know—and besides, that's implying that you'll actually be able to hit me," he added teasingly, before getting into a stance. "Are you ready? Or should I make the first move?"

Joey brandished his sword, taking a light swing at Atem. He missed entirely and unbalanced himself enough that he almost fell over before catching himself. "This is harder than it looks."

Atem stepped out of the way, chuckling as Joey nearly fell over. "There is a reason why people train their whole lives to learn how to wield weaponry." Wasting no time, Atem smoothly stepped around Joey and swung out, keeping his swings light enough that Joey would be able to block and wouldn't get too hurt if they connected with him.

Joey swung his sword quickly and caught Atem on the arm; hitting one of his gold arm bands and making a loud "clang" ring out over the training field. "Ha! I got the first hit in!" Joey cried triumphantly.

Atem blinked in surprise when Joey's sword clipped him in the arm, hitting against his arm band, but he was unable to help smiling at the (adorable) victorious expression on Joey's face. "So you did, yes. I suppose this means I won't have to go easy on you, then," he responded with a smirk, swiftly swinging out and hitting Joey on his side before the blond could so much as lift his sword to block. "Now we each have one hit—better make the last one count."

Joey tried his best to get another hit in to win, but Atem kept dodging or blocking. He might be small, but he was quick. "Hey, you're a fast little guy!" he said, panting from his exertion.

Atem chuckled breathlessly. "I'm going to let the 'little' comment slide—but yes, I was trained in fighting using speed to make up for a lack of strength," he responded, inwardly noting that Joey seemed to have plenty to offer in that department: even though he couldn't keep up with Atem, every time their swords managed to clash, Atem was left feeling the sting of blocking his swings in his arms even after their swords pulled apart. Still, it seemed that Joey's lack of experience was working in Atem's favor as the blond began to tire, and the pharaoh took advantage of this opportunity to feint around to Joey's side and catch him on the arm. "And I believe that is game over. You lasted much longer than I expected, though; I'm impressed."

"Aw man, I've never done this before!" Joey complained. He wanted a chance to actually beat Atem. Even so, he put his sword back on the hook he had gotten it from. "What's next? You probably have duties or something you need to do, right?" He couldn't help a little pout from forming on his lips, he liked spending time with Atem and his duties would take him away.

"Then keep practicing here, and perhaps you'll be able to beat me next time," he replied, returning his sword to its spot amongst the other weaponry as well. He couldn't help but smile at the small pout on Joey's lips, pleased that Joey quite obviously wanted to spend more time with him, and (after making sure that they were sufficiently hidden from the view of any guards who might have been watching) he leaned up to press a quick kiss to Joey's cheek before speaking. "I believe I am done for the night—and I also believe that since I won, you have to do whatever I want for the rest of the night."

"Oh? What did you have in mind?" Joey said with a mischievous smirk on his face in reaction to the kiss on his cheek. He couldn't keep the look up long though and soon burst out laughing. "Ahaha, like you were actually planning on doing something to me, pfft." He stopped laughing and got a straight face when he saw how serious Atem looked. "Were you?" His eyes widened a bit. Could Atem actually be planning on doing something to him? They'd had so much fun together so far, but the sinking suspicion that Atem wasn't as he seemed and might be planning on causing Joey harm still lingered at the back of his mind.

Now it was Atem's turn to pout slightly as Joey laughed, his expression going from indignant to genuinely hurt at the look on Joey's face. "I never said I would do anything to you, nor did I say it would be anything bad; all I said was that you had to do what I wanted—but it's alright, forget it. If you still have... doubts about me, then I suppose there's no point in any of this." With that, Atem turned on his heel and began walking out of the training grounds.

Joey ran after him, aware that he had upset him, but a little confused as to why. "No, wait, I didn't mean it like that, I was joking. You won; you can do whatever you want with me for the rest of the night." He opened his arms wide, offering himself to the pharaoh.

Atem came to a stop when Joey ran up to him, a small frown still on his face—it hadn't looked like Joey was joking, but he supposed he would take his word for it for now to avoid an argument. At Joey's next statement, Atem's face heated up in a heavy blush, especially as he held his arms open wide. "... 'Whatever I want,' hm...," he murmured in response, his mind already running through quite a few ideas that would probably have his priests rushing to perform a cleansing ritual on him had they been able to hear his thoughts. With a slowly-spreading smirk, Atem leaned forward until their lips were mere inches apart, his eyes never once leaving Joey's as he spoke. "Are you certain you wish to give me that much power over you? I gave you the chance to put our bet aside, you know." Before Joey could respond, he pulled away and began walking away. "Come, let's retire to our room for the night—we don't want anyone interrupting our fun, after all."

Joey's eyes were as big as saucers as the meaning behind Atem's words hit him. His face turned bright red and he stared at Atem, having to run to keep up with his brisk pace. "You don't mean, THAT," he whispered, staring at their bed once they got back to the room.

Atem's smirk widened as he caught sight of Joey's blush out of the corner of his eye, chuckling at Joey's whispered statement once they entered the bedroom. "Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't—it all depends on what 'THAT' is," he responded teasingly. "So why don't you tell me what 'THAT' is, hm?"

"Have sex?" Joey responded, also rather quietly. He didn't have any experience with this kind of thing and it was making him a little nervous. What was Atem thinking? He blushed even more, his whole face bright red.

Atem chuckled, part of him surprised that Joey had actually straight-out said it instead of attempting to skirt around the subject. "I think it might be a bit too early for that, but I'm glad to know that you're thinking of having sex with me as a possibility," he teased, enjoying Joey's embarrassment perhaps a bit too much. "I was thinking more along the lines of something slightly less intimate than that."

"Like wh-at?" Joey's voice cracked a little, he wasn't sure how much more of this embarrassment he could take. He sat down on the edge of the bed; hoping sitting down would keep from falling over.

Atem smirked as he heard Joey's voice crack, his eyes following the blond's every movement as he watched him stumble over to the bed and sit down. "Like this," he responded, smoothly moving over to Joey and wrapping his arms around him as he leaned close, resting his forehead against the blond's as he spoke. "Kiss me."

Joey stared at Atem in confusion for a second, his brain taking a moment to process the command. Shakily, he took Atem's chin in his hand and slowly pressed their lips together. He wasn't even sure he was doing it right. It was his first kiss after all.

Atem blushed as Joey's fingers came into contact with his face, his eyes drifting shut despite his surprise and embarrassment as their lips connected. It wasn't perfect—it was tentative, clumsy, and all-around unskillful on both of their parts, yet at the same time it felt so _right_ that Atem couldn't bring himself to care about anything but the feeling of Joey's lips against his and Joey's body so close to his. The two pulled apart for air after a moment, Atem tentatively opening his eyes before giving Joey an embarrassed yet pleased smile. "That was... better than expected, actually. Though I believe we're both going to need a lot more _practice_ if we want to improve," he added with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"I honestly don't think I can handle much more of this before I die from embarrassment," Joey admitted, flopping down on the bed. He was also getting an uncomfortable pulling in his undergarment that he was trying to ignore.

Atem chuckled. "Fair enough," he responded, deciding to let Joey off the hook for the rest of the night—he didn't want to push him too hard and end up accidentally pushing him away, after all. Instead, he laid down beside Joey on the bed, his elation far surpassing his embarrassment at the moment—being able to share his first kiss with Joey, and knowing that it was Joey's first kiss as well, made him feel like he was the happiest and luckiest guy in the world, and nothing short of a natural disaster could possibly ruin his mood right about now.

Joey would have turned around and wrapped Atem up in a hug, but he was quickly realizing that he had a boner and was trying to hide it from Atem. He didn't need anything else to egg the boy on. Although...he had to admit, he kind of wanted to, but Atem was right, it was far too early. But his "problem" was really starting to bug Joey, and he was considering running away to take care of it so Atem wouldn't see.

Atem glanced up at Joey with a worried frown when he felt how tense the other was. "Joey? Is something wrong?" His first thought was immediately that being with him like this was making the blond uncomfortable, but considering how he'd willingly kissed him (or, well, he commanded Joey to kiss him but Joey still could have refused) Atem hoped that that wasn't the case.

Joey was blushing so hard he felt like he might faint. "Well, um, I have a problem." He slowly flipped over to face Atem, revealing the bulge poking out from his tunic. He figured if Atem and he were actually going to have a relationship he should be perfectly honest, though this might be going a little too far.

Atem raised an eyebrow at the sight of Joey's blush, glancing down when he felt something poking his leg and smirking (more to play off his own embarrassed blush than anything else) in response. "You enjoyed our kiss that much? I'm flattered," he teased, pressing a kiss to Joey's cheek before giving him a more genuine smile.

"There's no need to be so embarrassed about your body having a natural reaction-after all, I, ah"-he coughed slightly, glancing away in embarrassment as he briefly lowered his gaze to his own less-noticeable bulge (not that he wasn't well-endowed or anything, of course; it was just that his tunic hid it better!). "You weren't the only one to have... gotten a 'problem'."

"So, um, are we going to do anything about our 'problems'?" Joey asked nervously, not looking at Atem. He really had no idea what he was doing.

"Well, we could take care of them ourselves...," Atem responded, his blush darkening as he slipped a hand down to lightly brush against Joey's bulge over his tunic. "Or we could take care of each other's-unless you think you really might die of embarrassment from doing anything more than kissing," he added with a quiet laugh, inwardly thanking all the years he was raised to learn how to outwardly appear calm and composed-without that, he was sure he'd be even more of a blushing mess than Joey was right now, though he had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to keep it together so easily if Joey so much as attempted to turn things around on him.

Joey couldn't stop a small moan coming from his lips at Atem's touch. "Can I?" he asked, reaching a hand to slip it inside Atem's tunic.

Atem's blush darkened at the sound of Joey's moan, and he nodded in response to Joey's question, groaning quietly as he felt Joey's fingers brushing against his erection. He slipped his own hand inside Joey's tunic to run his fingers along Joey's erection tentatively, leaning up to press a kiss to Joey's lips.

Joey returned the kiss; it lasted far longer and was more passionate than the first one. He then gently flipped Atem onto his back, hiking up his tunic and pulling off his underwear. Now that he had freed Atem's erection, he gripped it and slowly started to move his hand up and down, looking to Atem to see if he was doing this horribly wrong.

Atem's eyes drifted shut as Joey kissed him back, blushing heavily but not protesting as the blond flipped him onto his back and pulled off his underwear, leaving him completely exposed. He shivered as Joey's fingers wrapped around his erection, letting out a breathy moan at the feeling of Joey's hand moving along his length and giving him a reassuring (yet embarrassed) smile when he saw the uncertain expression on the blond's face.

Not wanting to be the only one being taken care of, Atem reached out and pulled off Joey's underwear as well, running his hand along Joey's erection and leaning up to press another kiss against his lips (if only to muffle any noises they were making—after all, the last thing Atem wanted was someone hearing the noise and coming in to check on him).

Joey didn't know how much longer he could keep from reaching his climax. He pulled back from Atem's kiss to breath, letting out a loud gasp as Atem's hand moved faster. He moved his own hand faster, enjoying the blush, but obvious pleasure, on the younger boys face.

Atem sped up his hand's movements, his breaths coming out in short pants as soon as Joey broke the kiss. His breath hitched as Joey's hand sped up in response, feeling himself drawing closer to his climax, and it wasn't too long before he arched into Joey's hand with a drawn-out moan, seeing stars as he hit his climax hard and just barely managing to keep his own hand moving to work the blond towards his release.

Joey released and let out a much louder moan than he intended to. He let go of Atem and collapsed on top of him, unable to move anymore. Somehow he didn't really feel embarrassed anymore, just satisfied and tired, but mostly satisfied. The blond looked down at Atem and smirked, giving him a quick kiss before rolling off of him to curl up beside him.

Atem blushed as Joey released into his hand with a loud moan, grimacing slightly and chuckling as the larger boy collapsed onto him. His blush darkened as Joey smirked down at him, and he returned the quick kiss before giving Joey a smile and turning to lay against him, closing his eyes with a content expression.

Joey grabbed the blanket and pulled it over the two of them, snuggling up to Atem and letting out a contented sigh before falling asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Seth scowled as he walked through the hallways with Priest Shada by his side, his Millennium Rod clenched in his fist as he headed towards a familiar head of blond hair. Ever since the pharaoh discovered and released the captured, trespassing foreigner, he'd been paying more and more attention to that irritatingly obnoxious blond and less and less attention to his duties—and with how the two were practically inseparable, even with the blond posing as the pharaoh's 'personal servant', certain rumors were beginning to spread that Seth was not happy about in the slightest...

This (supposed) time-traveler was doing enough damage as it was just by existing where he shouldn't be, but did he really think he would be able to ruin the pharaoh's good name and then go back to his own time with no repercussions? (And of course, there was the sullying of his own good name as well when the pharaoh found out about his—completely justified, though Atem would hear nothing of it—treatment of his new favored 'guest', though that was just his own personal grudge against the blond, and as a priest he had to put matters of the country before his own personal matters at all times... or so he claimed, anyway.)

The pharaoh was currently in a private diplomacy meeting, meaning that Seth was finally free to approach the blond, a cold smirk on his face as he spoke. "Well, if it isn't the pharaoh's lapdog. What a surprise, seeing you apart from your master."

Joey looked up at the sound of Seth's scoffing voice. He had been dozing off outside the room Atem was having his meeting, since he wasn't allowed to sit in on it. "Hey, he wouldn't let me in, said something about it being private." The blond bristled at the mere sight of the taller man, remembering all too well the beatings he'd taken thanks to him. "And what's it to you? I'm not his lapdog," he looked away for a second, "We're um, friends." There was no way he was telling this bastard that they had become more than just friends. He wanted nothing more than to punch the man and wipe the condescending smirk off his face.

"Well at least you know how to follow orders like a good dog," Seth retorted with a smirk still on his face, enjoying the irritated expression on the blond's face far more than he probably should have—it wasn't even close to being the payback he deserved, but it was something, at least. "In case your memory span doesn't last beyond a minute, I will remind you that I'm one of the high priests—and therefore anything that has to do with the pharaoh involves me as well."

With that, his smirk fell into a scowl. "We still have no proof beyond yours and Mahaad's crazy claims that you really are from the future as you say you are, and I for one see you as just as much of a threat to the pharaoh's safety now as I did when you first snuck your way into the palace." Seth's eyes narrowed as he pointed the Millennium Rod towards the blond. "I'm going to reveal to the pharaoh the darkness that resides within you, and once I do, he will have no choice but to accept that I was right about you this entire time."

Joey balled his hands into fists, having to use every ounce of willpower he had to keep from socking Seth one. "Hey man, I have no intention of hurting Atem; I just want to go home." He turned his back to Seth, trying to get some distance between them before his willpower gave out and he really did punch him.

In the instant that the blond turned his back on him, Seth stepped forward and moved the Millennium Rod over Joey's shoulder so the blade rested against his throat threateningly. "I hope you realize that referring to the pharaoh with such disrespect is a crime punishable by death," he said in a low tone, his eyes narrowed.

Taking this as his cue, Priest Shada stepped forward, moving around to stand in front of Joey and putting the Millennium Ankh to his chest... before taking a step back in shock after a few seconds.

"What is it, Shada?"

"This boy... his Ka is... I've never seen anything like it before."

"Draw it out!" Seth commanded, uncaring of whatever pain it would put Joey through. Shada hesitated before nodding and doing as he was told, turning the Millennium Ankh against Joey's chest and beginning to pull out his Ka.

Joey let out an ear-splitting scream that half the palace probably heard. He fell to his knees, clutching his chest. "What th- what the hell are you doing?" he only just managed to gasp out. It felt like his insides were being ripped out of him.

Seth moved his Millennium Rod as soon as it became apparent that Joey was in too much pain to be able to do anything to stop the Ka removal process. Still, surprisingly enough, it seemed that the boy still had enough strength to coherently speak in the midst of the ritual, and inwardly Seth had to admit that he was impressed by the blond's tenacity—outwardly, however, he merely continued to smirk as he responded, "I'm having your dark Ka drawn out to reveal your true nature to the pharaoh."

And a dark Ka it was indeed: it began to take shape above Joey's body, blackness as dark as the night itself forming into the shape of a dragon with piercing, blood-red eyes... a Ka such as this could be nothing but evil, and yet for some odd reason Seth couldn't sense the same evil in this Ka as in the others from any other criminal they'd brought in. _And that power... I can feel it even without the use of my Millennium Rod—how does this idiot have such a powerful Ka...?_ There was no other explanation save for the fact that he was a threat—he had to be, because there was no way that someone like him could possess a Ka more powerful than any of the high priests' Ka, especially one that wasn't evil.

Joey lay gasping on the floor. After a few minutes he shakily got to his feet. Once he was up he saw the dragon that had been forcibly dragged out of him. "Red-Eyes Black Dragon...was inside me?" Joey wondered aloud, confused and amazed. He had seen the Ka removal of the criminals but it hadn't seemed entirely real until he had his own monster here in front of him. Joey tentatively reached out a hand to touch the dragon, gently stroking the ferocious monster's nose. "Wow, you're real, big fellow." He was completely unafraid of the dragon and the monster showed no signs of hostility towards him. On the other hand, it turned and snarled at Seth menacingly, ready to roast him if he got near Joey.

 _He knows the name of his Ka...?_ Time traveler (which Seth still firmly refused to believe) or not, there were very few people who knew the names of Ka—names held power, and as soon as the blond uttered the dragon's name, it was immediately his to command... which unnerved Seth more than he was willing to admit. He'd been planning on sealing away the Ka to present to the pharaoh as proof that Joey was hiding malicious intentions, but he hadn't expected the blond to have such a close connection with the spirit that he would be able to subjugate it so quickly, and without the use of a millennium item at that... it was completely unheard of.

"You..." Seth could barely take one step forward before the dragon snarled at him, obviously ready and willing to kill him, and the priest's eyes narrowed in return. "Very well then. It seems that I have no choice—I'll have to seal away your Ka by force." With that, Seth raised his left arm, his DiaDhank opening as he spoke. "I summon the Ka lying asleep in my Shrine of Wedju! Come to our side and become our strength! Galestgoras, I summon thee!" There was a flash of light, and Seth's Ka appeared behind him, ready to do battle with Joey's Red-Eyes.

Joey blinked; he knew holograms couldn't exist this far back in time, so this monster must be real. He gave Red-Eyes one last pat before facing off against Seth. "Red-Eyes, Inferno Fire Blast!" The black dragon let out a stream of flames that hit the high priest's monster full on.

Seth cursed; clutching his chest with a pained expression as Galestgoras was hit by the flames from Joey's dragon. "You bastard... Galestgoras, take that dragon down!" Seth's Ka opened its mouth and fired a stream of black flames at Red-Eyes, though it was weaker than it should have been as it tried to recover from the first hit.

Atem rushed out of the room and into the hallway, his heart dropping at the sight of the dragons. " Seth! What in Ra's name is going on here?!"

"Ph-pharaoh! This isn't... he took command of his Ka and used it to attack me! Do you see his dark Ka; it's proof that he's had malicious intents this entire time!"

" ** _Silence!_** " Atem was completely livid, his puzzle glowing dangerously to match his ire. He glanced over at Joey, his expression softening the slightest bit before speaking. "Joey. Tell me what happened here."

"He attacked me and did that Ka extraction thing to bring Red-Eyes out, now he's trying to blame me and call me evil or something just cause of the way Red-Eyes looks," Joey explained, patting the dragon on the wing affectionately.

Atem's irritated expression briefly melted into a smile as he saw just how close Joey was with his Ka—such a pure bond was rare enough to be more than enough proof that Joey was a good person, just as Atem had thought from the moment he met him. His frown returned as he turned his attention over to Seth, who quickly bowed his head in respect despite the irritated expression on his face. "Seth... while I understand that you have my best interest and the best interest of our country at heart at all times, I have explicitly expressed that I do not want anyone attempting to harm Joey, and that he is no harm to me or anyone else in this country. I will ask that you apologize to him for your actions and false accusations, and I want you to have his Ka sent to my Shrine of Wedju for safekeeping—and I will not allow any objections," he immediately added when he saw Seth opening his mouth to speak.

With that said, Atem turned his attention back to Joey, taking his DiaDhank off of his wrist and handing it to him with a smile. "Perhaps this is for the best, though I'm still not pleased that he forced you to go through that—at least now you will have a means of protecting yourself should anything happen. With the use of this DiaDhank, you will be able to call your Ka to your side at any time."

Joey examined the strange looking gold contraption. "Is this like a duel disk?" He put it on his left arm. "How do I use it?" He poked at it for a bit, soon getting bored with it when it didn't do anything. He turned to Seth. "Ha, you hear that, you big, stupid Kaiba-look-a-like?! You can't be an asshole to me anymore!" The blond said, probably being a bit childish about the matter.

Atem muffled a laugh behind his hand. "You use it by calling out your Ka's name-but obviously it wouldn't work if you already have your Ka summoned." He rolled his eyes in amusement at Joey's childish behavior, inwardly approving (after all, as pharaoh, he himself wasn't allowed to act in such a manner, even if he was tempted at times) but outwardly forcing a disapproving frown... though he supposed it would have had more effect if the corners of his lips didn't keep twitching. "Joey, behave yourself."

Seth was fairly certain that he was going to grind his teeth into dust at this rate, but as vexing as it was, the pharaoh's word was law-even if he was obviously biased in Joey's favor (though Seth couldn't possibly understand _why_ the pharaoh would choose to stand up for that obnoxious, irritating idiot). With a huff, Seth recalled his Ka and turned on his heel, gripping his Millennium Rod so tightly in his hand that his knuckles turned white as he walked away without another word.

"Ha, I hope I never see that jerk again." Joey glared at Seth's back as he walked away. He then turned to Atem, putting his hands on the smaller boy's shoulders. "Why would you want me to behave? I thought you liked it when I misbehave." He gave Atem a light kiss on the lips, smirking mischievously all the while.

Atem's face turned bright red as Joey gave him a light kiss, his eyes widening and quickly darting around to make sure no one had seen the intimate action. Once he was sure that no one had seen anything, he let out a relieved sigh before flicking Joey's forehead, his expression a cross between stern and amused. "You're lucky no one was around to see that, otherwise I would have had to order your execution," he half-joked, before returning Joey's smirk with one of his own despite his embarrassment. "And yes, behind closed doors I do enjoy you misbehaving, so long as I have the pleasure of 'punishing' you in response."

Turning his attention away from Joey (mainly to stop the two of them from flirting before they ended up getting caught), Atem instead focused with a frown on the large dragon that remained behind Joey. "Seth was supposed to seal your Ka... but that would have involved waiting for a stone tablet to be brought here, and I think it's safe to say that leaving you two in each other's company for even just a minute longer won't end well..." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "And we can't exactly have a large dragon roaming the palace halls... though he's surprisingly well-behaved for such a dark Ka—actually, it's surprising that someone as bright as you would have such a dark Ka; I can see why Seth jumped to the conclusions that he did, though I still don't approve of his actions."

Joey looked at Red-Eyes, petting his nose again. "So how are we going to get him back? Where does he go? Back inside me? This is all too weird."

Atem watched with a fond smile as Joey pet his Ka, laughing quietly as the blond spoke. "I can understand how this would seem strange to you—even most people in this time would find it strange. After all, normally only the high priests and the pharaoh are able to summon and control their Ka at will, and most need time before they can form a bond and learn the name of their Ka... yet it all came completely natural to you. I'm truly impressed," he said with a smile, tempted to reach out and pet the dragon himself but not wanting to touch the Ka without its (or Joey's) permission. "As for what to do... the only option is to have him sealed now that he's been released from you, but as I said, Seth is the only one who can do that, so I will have to call him back here, unfortunately—though I suppose I should have the stone tablet brought here first..."

Joey sighed. "Does that mean I have to see that asshole again?" He really had been hoping not to have to see him again, but if it was the only way to get what they needed done; he would just have to bear with it. "Do I have to be here when he does it? I feel it won't end well if we see each other again."

"Well, I suppose you don't have to be here... though I don't know how well it will behave if you're not here, especially if it still bears as much animosity towards Seth as you do," Atem responded wryly. "It will only take a minute at most, and then you both won't have to see each other until the day you leave."

Joey sighed again. "Well, ok, let's do this. Bring that asshole back here." The blond was not happy about this, but he also really didn't want his dragon on the loose.

Atem hesitated a moment, making sure that no one was around to see before he leaned up to press a quick kiss to Joey's cheek. "Thank you—you won't have to say two words to him, I promise, and I'll make sure he doesn't say anything to you either."

With that said, Atem went off to have some servants bring in a stone tablet, waiting until it arrived before finding and requesting (or forcing, rather) Seth to return for long enough to finish what he started and seal away Joey's Ka in the tablet. Thankfully, aside from an irritated glare and some grumbling, Seth didn't try to start anything, and as soon as the dragon was sealed away he left without even waiting to see that the tablet was safely carried away—which Atem didn't mind, since the less time Seth spent in Joey's presence (and vice versa), the better. "Would you like to visit my Shrine of Wedju? You can see where your Ka is being kept, and all of the other Ka that are being kept there as well."

"Sure, what kind of cool monsters do you have kept there?" Joey followed Atem to the shrine, marveling at all the stone tablets.

Atem laughed quietly. "Well, I suppose it depends what you find interesting, but I have various different monsters, ranging from ones like the Winged Guardian Dragon, Mystical Elf, and Kuriboh to the three nameless gods," he responded, coming to a stop in the center of the shrine and gesturing up to the gigantic trio of stone tablets on the wall before them, each depicting one of the three gods whose names were lost through the ages.

Joey knew that the monsters in question were Obelisk, Slifer, and Ra, but he also knew that if they were nameless in this time it would probably not be a good idea to reveal that he knew their names. "Are all of these yours, or are some of them the priest's monsters?" It was hard to believe that all these monsters could belong to just Atem, but he was the pharaoh, so it might be possible. But Joey thought he remembered Atem saying that some of them belonged to the priests.

"Everything within this Shrine of Wedju belongs to the pharaoh-the high priests have their own shrines surrounding this one which contain their monsters," Atem explained, smiling in amusement as he added, "Theoretically, since I've given you my DiaDhank, you should be able to summon any of the Ka lying dormant here as well... though I wouldn't recommend it, since there's no guarantee that they would obey you even if you did summon them."

"Wait, does that mean that I could summon the gods?" Joey stared up in wonder at the stone tablets. He'd never been able to summon one during the Battle City Tournament. It would be really nice to be able to, but Atem was right, he'd better not. He had no idea if he'd be able to control a god and he didn't want it going nuts and destroying anything.

"Unfortunately not," he responded with a laugh. "In order to do something like that, you'd need to know their names, and not even I know the true names of the gods... It's for the best that their names are unknown, though-the power that someone could have just from knowing the names of the gods... I don't even want to think about what would happen if one person were to obtain that much power for themselves."

Joey coughed. It was eating at him that he **did** know the names of the gods. So in theory he could summon them. "Well, about that," he started nervously, still not sure if he should tell this probably very important piece of information.

Atem looked at him in a mixture of confusion and curiosity, noting Joey's odd expression but unsure of what exactly it meant. "Hm? Is something the matter, Joey?"

Joey looked away, speaking rather quietly, "I actually know all three god's names." He didn't think it was that big of a deal until he had learned that to control these ancient Egyptian monsters he needed to know their names.

Atem stared at Joey in shock, unsure of whether or not he'd actually heard the blond right. "You... know their names...? But how? There's no way..." However, he knew Joey would have no reason to lie about something like this... "If that's true, then you have to swear to me _never_ to speak their names aloud, no matter what. Is that understood?"

Joey was surprised at how serious Atem suddenly was. "Um, okay, what will happen if I do? Sometime bad, I'm guessing?" He only knew the god's names because of the tournament. If Odion had had a real Ra card and not a fake he'd even have owned a god card for a short time.

Atem frowned. "'Something bad' wouldn't even begin to cover it... These are _gods_ , Joey-their powers are limitless, and all that is needed to obtain and control their powers is their names. Were you to say their names aloud and the wrong person heard you and managed to get my DiaDhank from you, they could destroy the entire world if they wanted to."

Joey stared in wide-eyed horror at the thought. "I could really do all that, just with their names?" He clutched the weird gold duel disk with a bit of apprehension. Maybe he shouldn't even have this thing if it could do that much damage.

Atem gave Joey a reassuring smile, briefly reaching out when he was sure no one was looking to give Joey's hand a quick squeeze. "You could, but I know you wouldn't, so there's nothing to worry about." The pharaoh trusted Joey without any question, and he had no worries about Joey doing anything wrong, nor did he worry about anyone making Joey tell them the gods' names-after all, there was no way that anyone would even know that Joey knew their names in the first place, and he could tell by Joey's expression that he wouldn't go and casually mention the gods' names anytime soon.

Joey squeezed Atem's hand back. "Now that Seth can't do anything to me, I don't feel that there's anything for me to worry about." He gave the pharaoh a big toothy grin.

Atem laughed quietly, returning Joey's grin with a smile of his own. "Even just with your own Ka, he wouldn't be able to do anything to you. After all, yours may very well be one of the most-if not the most-powerful Ka in here, save for the gods themselves. It's clearly a reflection of your strong spirit," he praised, before adding quietly so no one else would hear as he eyed Joey with a slight smirk, "Strong of body and strong of spirit, good looking, a fun personality... you really are quite the incredible person, Joey."

Joey blushed at the praise. "Thanks, you're pretty awesome too." He glanced around to make sure they were alone in the shrine. They were, so he planted a big kiss on Atem's lips. "To completely change the subject," he suddenly started, "Where's Mana? I haven't seen her in a while."

Atem blushed heavily at the sudden kiss but was more than happy to reciprocate, especially since he knew that they were both alone (though he was grateful that Joey had been thoughtful enough to check before kissing him). He blinked in surprise at the random change in subject before laughing quietly. "It's hard to say; she comes and goes as she pleases. I'm sure she'll end up finding us again herself if we can't find her."

"Well, if you don't have anything else planned, why don't we go try to find her?" Joey was bored and it gave them sometime to do.

"Well, my meeting was cut short thanks to yours and Seth's fight, but I'm sure the diplomat is already making his way back home, so... sure, why not," he responded with a smile and a shrug. "We can search in the usual places that I find her-come on, I'll lead the way."


	7. Chapter 7

Atem made sure his hood was completely covering his hair and obscuring his face, taking a moment to glance behind him in order to make sure that Joey's hood was in place as well. It had now been half a month since Joey first started staying with him in the palace, and the blond was obviously growing bored and restless from being confined to the palace grounds—and so after some persuasion from both him and Mana, he finally acquiesced and agreed to one quick visit into town, as long as Mana would help them slip past the guards (which she was more than happy to agree to, since it gave her another chance to practice her magic).

Atem chose to travel together with Joey on one horse to prevent the blond from getting separated from him, and he made sure to get hoods that would sufficiently disguise the two of them and (hopefully) make them blend in a bit more with the lower-class townspeople. "Now Joey, you remember what I told you, right?" he asked quietly, gripping the horse's reins tightly in his hands as he led the animal away from the palace. "Stay close to me at all times, and try not to make yourself stand out too much, for your own sake more than mine." Honestly, though Atem was probably the one who would be in more danger (since he was the pharaoh and all), he found himself worrying more about his blond friend than about himself—the last thing he wanted was for something bad to happen to Joey, especially not at the hands of his own people.

Joey nodded, and then remembered that he was behind Atem and he couldn't see him. "Yeah, I get it, we're incognito," the blond said, chuckling to himself. It felt great to finally get out of the palace and do some exploring. "What is there to see out there?" Joey was excited to do anything, as long as it was with Atem. He'd grown very attached to the boy and couldn't see himself without him. There was that nagging feeling in the back of his head though, he knew they'd have to part ways soon and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

Atem couldn't help but crack a small smile at the excitement in Joey's voice. "I'm not sure if it's going to be anything to your liking, but... well, there's plenty of shops, and lots of people—it's a town, after all. I have more than enough money on me in case anything catches your eye, but I'm afraid there's not much else to do but take in the sights and shop; I hope this will at least be a decent enough change of pace for you."

"Hey, as long as it's with you, I'm cool with doing anything," Joey was grinning from ear to ear. Shopping sounded like it could be fun. Maybe he could get some souvenirs for Yugi and the gang. He found himself wrapping his arms around Atem's waist, half to help himself stay on the horse, and half just to be closer to the pharaoh.

Atem's smile widened, his face flushing lightly as he responded with, "I feel the same way." He leaned back against Joey slightly when the blond's arms wrapped around his waist, enjoying being able to be this close to him—of course, there were still some limits to what they could do in public, but at the very least he wouldn't have to worry about anyone dragging his title into the mix even if anyone did happen to see them.

After a few minutes of riding, the outskirts of town began coming into view, and Atem was relieved to see that hardly anyone was paying them any mind save for a curious glance or two. _They probably think we're travelers—which wouldn't be entirely incorrect, I suppose,_ he added wryly as he covertly looked around. It wasn't too often that he was able to travel out of the palace on his own (or, well, he was with Joey so he supposed he wasn't _alone_ , but his point still stood), and he wanted to enjoy taking in the different sights as much as his friend.

"Are we gonna get to eat?" Joey asked excitedly. He had spotted some stalls selling different foods and his stomach was growling. Giving Atem's waist one last squeeze, he hopped down from the horse, eager to explore as much as he could in the short time he knew they had. "Hey look, I think Téa would like that. Hmm, or maybe Serenity. Not sure Téa's the type." He had spotted some pretty jewelry. Walking up to the stall, he examined the jewelry. He had no experience with it and didn't know what a girl would like. He turned back to his friend. "Hey, Atem, what would you get for Mana if you got something?"

Atem chuckled quietly. "Yes Joey, we can get food if you want," he replied, gently coaxing the horse to a stop and smiling in a mix of amusement and endearment as he watched Joey eagerly jump off the horse and rush towards the stalls. After making sure that the horse was tethered somewhere that Atem would be able to keep an eye on it (after all, one had to be wary of thieves when they went into town, or so he heard from Seth), he joined Joey, looking over the various pieces of jewelry on display. "Well, different people like different kinds of jewelry, so I'm not sure if the people you had in mind will like the same things that Mana might like, but..." He continued looking over the jewelry with a careful eye, being far more fashion-conscious and knowledgeable about jewelry than his friend, before picking up a necklace with a smile. "I believe I would go with this one, if I had to choose—it's simple, yet the pendant gives it a nice touch." Glancing at Joey, he added, "Would this be something that you think the person you had in mind would like?"

"Well, it's my sister I was thinking of, or one of my female friends, I'm really not sure what to buy for a girl..." The blond scratched his mop of hair. "What do girls like?" he mused aloud. The necklace was pretty, but he wasn't sure it matched either of the girls.

Atem laughed quietly. "If it's for your sister or for a friend, I'm sure they would both appreciate anything you got for them, but let's see what else might be nice..." He hummed in thought before picking up one of the bracelets from the stall. "How about this?"

Joey eyed the pretty bracelet. "That looks more like it, more simple. I think I'll get that for my sister." He looked away, his bangs flopping down in front of his face, a little embarrassed. "But I don't have any money."

Atem smiled. "As I told you before, I will pay for anything that catches your eye, so don't worry about it." He turned his attention to the merchant behind the stall, who seemed to brighten up as he realized that they were intending to buy something from him.

"You're interested in purchasing that bracelet? My, you have excellent taste!" the merchant complimented with a smile that seemed far too calculating for Atem's liking. "Normally such rare, exquisite piece would go for 200 gold coins, but I would be more than happy to lower the price to 100 gold coins just for you!"

... Ah, I see what he's trying to do, Atem thought to himself, immediately catching on to the merchant's game—and if there was one thing the young pharaoh loved, it was a good game. "Hmm, 100 gold pieces... my, that sounds like quite the bargain—though I recall seeing a bracelet almost identical to this one in the next town over, and if I remember correctly, the merchant there was selling it for 60 gold pieces...," Atem responded, keeping a conflicted expression on his face—one of the most important aspects of being a good gamer was being a good actor, after all, and Atem was nothing if not a good gamer and actor. "Perhaps I should take my business back there, instead... especially considering how their bracelet was real and not fake," he added in, wanting to make it clear that he knew that the bracelet wasn't made of real gold and that he wasn't going to pay a ridiculously high price for imitation jewelry (though it was still a quality piece of imitation jewelry, Atem had to admit).

The merchant's expression faltered for a moment before smiling with a bit more desperation. "I-is that so... well then, I can give it to you for 50 gold!"

"I believe the trip back to get the bracelet in the other town we passed through would be very much worth the extra 10 gold, considering how we'll be getting an authentic bracelet instead of an imitation," Atem responded flippantly, shrugging his shoulders and making a move to set the bracelet back down.

"Wait, 40 gold! I'll give it to you for 40 gold!"

Atem kept a thoughtful expression on his face for a moment, purposely dragging it out before shrugging and reaching into his satchel to take out the coins, setting 40 gold coins onto the stand with a smile. "Pleasure doing business with you, sir," he said cheerfully, smirking slightly as he walked away before laughing and speaking once they were out of earshot. "That was almost too easy~"

"Wow, I've never seen anyone haggle like that before. That was pretty impressive." Joey tucked away the bracelet, planning on giving it to his sister once he got back. He glanced over at Atem, his impression a little wistful; when he got back he wouldn't be able to see Atem again...

"Haggling is just like a game of the mind between the buyer and the seller," Atem responded with a smile. "And I never lose when it comes to games." He looked around at the different stalls curiously before glancing back at Joey, his smile fading into a worried expression as he noticed the look on Joey's face. "Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"Ah, it's nothing, it's stupid." Joey saw how worried Atem looked and changed his mind. "Well, okay, the thing is, I'm not gonna be able to see you pretty soon, and I don't like that thought at all." He looked away, getting suddenly shy with sharing his feelings.

Atem's expression softened as Joey confessed what was on his mind. "Joey..." He took Joey's hand in his own, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I know, and I don't like it either, but isn't that all the more reason to try and enjoy the time we have left together?"

"True, but it's really hard to ignore." Joey leaned in and gave Atem a kiss. "So, we've done something I wanted to do, what do you want to do?" he asked, both because he wanted to change the subject and also because he thought Atem should get a chance to do what he wanted to do as well.

Atem kissed back quickly before pulling away, still nervous about physical displays of affection in public. It was obvious that Joey was trying to change the subject by asking him what he wanted to do, but Atem decided to go along with it regardless, humming in thought as he looked around. "Honestly I'm fine with doing whatever you want to do. Would you like to look around at some of the other stalls? Or do you want to get something to eat, maybe?"

"Food is always good," Joey replied. You couldn't go wrong with suggesting food to the blond. "But after that I want to see if I can find some stuff for my other friends too." He quietly took Atem's hand, tugging him towards a food stall with a delicious aroma coming from it.

"That sounds like a plan, then," Atem responded with a smile—Joey was predictable as ever, yet even that part of him was endearing in Atem's eyes. He entwined his fingers with the taller boy's, following alongside him as he made his way towards the food stall. "Order whatever you like, and however much as you like," he said as he looked over the different food for sale, keeping his voice low so as not to attract any attention (after all, it wouldn't be very wise to basically announce that he was carrying an abundance of gold on him at the moment to pay for whatever Joey wanted).

Joey picked out a large quantity of foods and looked around for a place to eat it. "Does over there look good?" he pointed to an empty place a few stalls down.

Atem chuckled, inwardly rolling his eyes. _I should have figured he'd actually take me up on my offer and order as much as he wanted,_ he thought wryly, ordering a smaller portion of food for himself and handing the stunned merchant enough gold coins to cover both of their meals before turning his attention back to Joey. "Sure, over there looks fine." With an amused smile, he looked over the large amount of food that Joey was carrying and added, "Do you think you'll be able to manage carrying all of that food by yourself?"

"Sure I can," Joey said, almost dropping one plate just as he said it. "Um, on second thought, maybe I could use some help."

Atem laughed, taking some of the plates from Joey and carrying them along with his own plate. "I still don't know how you manage to eat this much and still remain so fit," he teased, leading the way over to the empty spot they'd chosen to eat at.

Joey shrugged. "I dunno," he mumbled between a mouthful of food. "Did you want to do anything here?" He asked again, after he had cleared one of the plates.

Atem sat down with his food, setting down the plates he was carrying for Joey before starting to eat. "I really just came here to give you a change of pace," he responded honestly after swallowing a bite of food, shrugging and glancing down at his plate in embarrassment as he added, "All I wanted was to spend the day with you, so I'm already doing what I wanted to do here." Atem was so focused on Joey and his food that he failed to notice the shadow lingering on the rooftop nearby, their gaze fixed on the disguised pharaoh as they aimed a poison-tipped arrow at his throat.

Joey stuffed the food in his mouth, probably far faster than he should have. He started to choke on it and held onto his stomach, trying to breath.

Atem didn't even have the chance to warn Joey about eating too quickly when the boy began to choke. Rolling his eyes, he moved to help Joey stop choking, letting out a relieved sigh once it was apparent that Joey was alright. "Please be more careful," he started as he rose to his feet, intending on moving back to his spot. "You should eat a bit more sl-!" There was a sudden, sharp pain in his back, and he stumbled, falling to the ground to reveal an arrow sticking out of his back-an arrow that would have pierced him right in the neck had he not unwittingly stood up at the right moment. The hooded figure scowled and quickly left, figuring that the poison in the arrow would do the rest of his job for him.

Joey leapt to his feet, his food completely forgotten. "Where the hell did that come from?! Are you ok?" He knelt down and grabbed hold of the arrow, debating if it would be a good or a bad idea to pull it out. He went with his first instinct and yanked the arrow out of Atem's back. Then he ripped a hole in the top half of the pharaoh's tunic to get to the wound. The blond tore the hem of his own tunic off into strips and quickly wrapped them around Atem's back and chest. "That should help stop the bleeding, but we need to get you to a doctor!" He frantically looked around for someone to help them.

Atem let out a pained cry as Joey yanked the arrow out of him without any warning, his body trembling, his face flushed with fever, and his breathing labored as the poison began draining him of his strength. "... Back... back to the palace...," he rasped out, gripping Joey and trying to rise to his feet only to immediately fall back down before he could even rise an inch off the ground. "Arrow was... poisoned... Mahaad... need to get... to Mahaad..."

Joey had no idea the arrow was poisoned, if he had known he probably wouldn't have been so hasty to pull it out of Atem's back. He picked Atem up and ran as fast as he could to where they had left their horse. He blinked a few times; this is where they had left it, right? But the horse was nowhere to be seen. "The horse is gone!" Joey cried, coming close to panic at this point. He had already done everything he could think of to help, but he didn't know anything about poison and was at a lost as to what to do.

Atem winced and weakly held on to Joey as he was picked up and carried him, putting all of his focus into staying conscious. "J-Joey... calm down...," he forced out weakly, moving a hand to cover his mouth as he coughed and grimacing as he pulled his hand away to reveal blood. "Water... We need to flush... the poison out... Need something to... help me throw up... get the poison out..."

Joey looked around for the nearest water source and spotted a skin of water at a nearby stall. Without asking, he grabbed it and shoved it to Atem's lips. After the pharaoh had drank some of it he put it down. "Sorry about this," Joey muttered before sticking his fingers down Atem's throat, trying to make him throw up.

Atem drank as much of the water as he physically could as soon as the water touched his lips, barely having a moment to mentally brace himself before Joey's fingers reached down his throat. He gagged, reflexively trying to pull away before feeling bile rising up his throat, his eyes tearing up as his throat began to burn. He pulled away and fell to the ground as he began to retch, blood and vomit staining the ground as the poison was released from his trembling body.

"Are you okay now? I'm guessing it's not all out of your system, right?" Joey was very worried and he helped Atem to his feet. "Who would do this? And more importantly at the moment, how are we going to get back to the palace without the horse?" He picked Atem up, not wanting him to hurt himself more by trying to walk.

Atem let out a shaky breath once his retching finally stopped, reaching for the water and using it to wash his mouth out with a grimace before responding. "I'll live," he replied wryly, fully aware that had they acted even a second too late, he may very well have died. "As for who would do this... I've had attempts on my life since I was a young child, so anyone who saw that the pharaoh was walking around unaccompanied by guards or high priests would probably be willing to take a shot at my life if they could get away with it." He flushed slightly as Joey picked him up, weakly gripping him and resting against his chest in exhaustion. "I still have my gold on me thankfully, so we should be able to buy another horse... but you're going to have to be the one to ride back. I'm in no shape to walk, let alone take charge of riding a horse."

"I think I can manage, as long as we don't get a wild raging stallion or something," Joey laughed at his own joke, but then his face became serious. "But you're still not out of danger, some of the poison may still be in you, and we need to know for sure if it's all out of your system."

Atem cracked a small, brief smile before his expression faded into a pained grimace. "Enough is out that I won't die for now, I think," he responded, closing his eyes for a moment as his vision swam and resting his head against Joey's chest. "The faster we get back to the palace, the faster I can get to a doctor. There should be someone selling horses nearby, so please hurry..."

Joey looked around for the nearest person selling horses and bought the first horse that looked sure-footed. It was a jet black horse with a shiny coat that looked intelligent. He vaulted onto the animal's back, trying his best not to jar Atem too much. "Ok, let's get you back to the palace as fast as we can." The blond kicked the horse in the flank and spend off to find the pharaoh help.

Atem let Joey pick their horse, trusting him enough to leave everything to him as he merely rested against Joey and tried to remain conscious. He grimaced as Joey vaulted onto the horses back and began to ride, weakly gripping onto the blond's shirt to keep from falling off as he tried to keep his breathing steady, feeling another wave of nausea coming on from the horse's motions but forcefully attempting to ignore it.

Joey was trying his hardest to keep from panicking. Atem could really die here, and there wasn't anything he could do about it. He urged the horse to go as fast as it could, hoping with everything he had that they wouldn't be too late. The palace came into sight after a few minutes, Joey thundered up to the gate, shouting at the guards, "Let us in! The Pharaoh is hurt, we need Mahaad immediately!"

Mahaad came running to the front gates at the sound of the commotion, letting out an uncharacteristic stream of curses as he heard what was going on. "Bring him inside!" he commanded, immediately taking charge and barking out orders before swiftly turning his furious gaze on the blond. "Tell me everything that happened-and I'll be having a lengthy discussion with you two about this once the Pharaoh is recovered. Consider yourself lucky, because this would be grounds for execution if it wasn't for your position."

"Just help him!" Joey practically screamed, handing the barely conscious boy over to the priest. He was getting very sick of hearing people threaten to execute him for every little thing he did. "Just save him, please," he added much more quietly, letting a note of fear enter his voice.

Mahaad's irritation simmered down as he both saw the fear in Joey's expression and heard it in his voice, and he let out a drawn-out sigh as he took the pharaoh into his arms before swiftly turning to walk inside, gesturing for Joey to follow him. "Tell me exactly what happened, from start to finish, so we can properly treat him."

Joey told Mahaad just what had happened on their trip into the market place. "Is he gonna be okay?" Joey absently stroked Atem's cheek, oblivious to the priest seeing his intimate action. "It's all my fault...if we hadn't have gone there this never would have happened."

Mahaad noticed the action but said nothing, instead focusing on the matter at hand. "If he got most of the poison out of his system, then he should be fine." He watched Joey for another moment before sighing and adding, "While you were at fault for leaving the palace, it wasn't entirely your fault—I suppose I'm to blame as well. I'm supposed to protect the pharaoh, and yet something like this still happened..." Mahaad shook his head slightly. "Unfortunately, this is not the first time someone has made an attempt on the pharaoh's life, and it won't be the last either, so there's no need to put all the blame on yourself."

Joey still felt rather responsible for this whole mess, but decided that arguing about the matter wouldn't do anyone any good. The blond tried to sit quietly while Mahaad took care of Atem, but he found himself shifting uncomfortably, unable to feel at ease with his friend still possibly in danger. "Is there anything I can do?" he asked, wanting to be at least of some use in this situation.

Mahaad pulled his attention away from the pharaoh when Joey spoke, remaining silent for a moment in thought before speaking. "Fetch the pharaoh some water for when he awakens—the poison will have dehydrated him, and he'll be looking for something to drink. Have one of the servants bring a light meal in as well, in case he feels hungry." There wasn't much else that Joey could do, since Mahaad and the doctors were already taking care of everything that needed to be done to remove the poison from Atem's body, but the high priest knew that Joey needed to do something to feel like he was helping—and though he was still a bit irritated, he couldn't help but feel bad for the blond, who looked to be even more distressed about Atem's condition than Mahaad himself was.

Joey went and got the water, and asked the servants to get the food. He thought it would help distract him, but it only took a short time, so he was soon back and sitting by Atem's side. He just sat there, nervously watching as he slept. Was he going to be okay? Mahaad had said that he would be, but Joey wouldn't really believe it until he saw it for himself. He was still beating himself up for it. It was all so stupid, he should have seen that sneaky bastard and stopped him before he had had the chance to hurt Atem. If he ever found the guy that did this...No, no, he shook his head, thoughts like that wouldn't help here. The assassin had been hidden, so there was no way to even find the guy unless he was stupid enough to declare "I poisoned the pharaoh" or something along those lines. Joey sighed, rubbing his forehead nervously. There was nothing he could do but wait. Wait and see what happened with this mess.

Atem's brows furrowed in his sleep, his face still flushed from his fever. He murmured something unintelligible before opening his eyes, his mind still muddled from the medicine given to him to help him recover. "Joey...?" he murmured, noting the worried expression on his face even in his half-awake state.

"Atem!" Joey cried out, grabbing the younger boy's hand. "Are you okay? I'm sorry about all this; I should have been able to stop this from happening." He was still blaming himself for this whole situation.

Atem gave Joey a small smile, weakly squeezing his hand. "Not your fault," he murmured, before wincing slightly at the raspiness of his voice and at the feeling of just how dry his throat was. "And I'm fine... just need something to drink and I'll be completely recovered." That, of course, was a lie, and he was sure that Joey knew that too-but he didn't have the luxury of being out of commission for long, so he had to at least try and convince himself that he was recovered and ready to get back to his duties.

Joey handed the water Mahaad had had him fetch earlier to Atem. "Why don't I believe you? You're still pretty hurt. You really should take it easy." He gently stoked Atem's face. "It's not like you have a country to run or anything." He chuckled slightly at his own joke, he himself not finding much humor in it, but he still used it to try to lighten the mood.

Atem smiled wryly, taking the water with a murmured thanks and drinking a few sips to soothe his throat. He leaned into the hand stroking his face, chuckling quietly at the joke. "If only that were the case," he replied, closing his eyes and leaning back against the pillow once he finished his water. "Though I guess getting a bit more rest wouldn't hurt..."

"Yes, rest," Joey said softly. He carefully lay down beside Atem, trying his best to not jar him. "I could use a nap myself after all this excitement." He pulled the blanket over the two of them and snuggled up against the young pharaoh.

Atem smiled as Joey lay down beside him, shifting as best as he could given his condition so he could snuggle closer to the blond in return. "Mmhmm...," he murmured, already half-asleep from a combination of exhaustion, the medicine, and the warmth and comfort of Joey's body against his own. Within minutes, his breathing evened out, and he fell back into a much more restful sleep.

Joey soon fell asleep as well, wrapping his arms protectively around Atem. He was so comfortable that it didn't even cross his mind what might happen if they were caught in so intimate a pose. All he cared about at the moment was being close to Atem.

Atem briefly woke up when he heard the door opening, cracking an eye open blearily before paling and stiffening as Mahaad came in and saw him lying in Joey's arms. To his surprise and relief, however, Mahaad said nor did anything save for shake his head slightly and give him a smile that was both knowing and slightly amused, and Atem relaxed in relief-while Mahaad was a high priest, he was also Atem's friend, and he seemed to be willing to turn a blind eye to what was going on between him and Joey and keep silent about what he saw. Mahaad checked his temperature, nodding to himself and using a cold cloth to wipe off Atem's forehead before silently leaving the room, allowing the pharaoh to drift back off to sleep.

Joey shifted in his sleep, unconsciously starting to nibble on Atem's ear. He then rolled over, sprawling all over the bed. "What's for dinner?" he muttered, still sound asleep.

Atem flushed in his sleep as he felt the teeth on his ear, shivering and letting out a quiet noise. He cracked an eye open as he felt something pressing down on him, blushing heavily as he realized it was Joey sprawled out on top of him. "J-Joey? Joey, you should really wake up...," he said, squirming from his position under the blond.

Joey muttered something else incoherent and slowly blinked his eyes open. "Huh, what is-?" He sat up, getting off of the smaller boy. "Oops, sorry," he rubbed his eyes sleepily and ran a hand through his unruly mop of blond hair. "Didn't mean to squish you."

"Ah, no, it's fine," Atem responded, his face still flushed as he looked up at Joey. Mahaad had locked the door to assure that they wouldn't be disturbed, so it wasn't as if he had to be worried about anyone walking in on them-it was just that after feeling Joey's teeth on his ear combined with him being on top of him, well... "You don't remember what you just did, do you?" he murmured, his blush darkening and his gaze quickly moving away from Joey out of embarrassment.

"Um, no," Joey looked down, a little scared about what he might have done while he was asleep. "What did I do?" He hoped he hadn't done something really stupid; he didn't want Atem to hate him now.

"You, um..." His blush darkened even more, his hand unconsciously drifting up to his ear as he forced himself to continue. "Y-you were, um... n-nibbling on my ear..." His voice gradually decreased in volume as he spoke, still unable to look at Joey out of embarrassment.

"Oh, um sorry," Joey apologized, even though he had no memory of doing this. "Would you rather I do this?" He leaned down and gave Atem a long passionate kiss, right on the lips.

Atem made a small, startled noise as he was suddenly kissed, his arms unconsciously drifting up to wrap around Joey as he returned the kiss with just as much passion. He was left dazed and breathless when they finally pulled apart, his face flushed as he looked up at Joey above him. "I'd take either," he said in response to Joey's question, his heart pounding hard enough that he was certain it would fly out of his chest at any moment.

"What about more than that?" Joey asked, fingering the tie on Atem's tunic. He could already feel that he had an erection, and his body was begging for more than just a kiss.

"... More than that...?" The young pharaoh blushed heavily at the indirect question, hesitating before giving the blond a nod. "If you want to do... more than that, then I do too."

Joey slowly tugged all of both of their clothes off, kissing Atem all over as he did so. "You sure? I've never done this before..." Joey was getting a little nervous, what if he did it entirely wrong? Even worst, what if he hurt Atem?

Atem shivered as he felt Joey's lips pressing along his bare skin, reaching up to help pull Joey's clothes off and only pausing when he heard the blond's question and saw his worried expression. With a smile, Atem leaned up and pressed a light kiss to Joey's lips before speaking. "I've never done this before either," he admitted. "And there's no one I'd rather experience my first time with than you-we'll figure out what to do together, don't worry."

Joey blinked, fumbling around for what to do next. He spotted the small jar of oil that was on the plate the servants had brought Atem earlier. "I guess that would work." He carefully flipped Atem around and started to rub the oil on his backside. "This is kinda weird," he said to himself, still not sure he was doing it right.

Atem blushed heavily as he was flipped around, shivering as he felt the cool oil against his warm skin. "I-I think you... need to, um... use it on yourself, and, well-you won't exactly... fit like that, so you need to, ah... stretch me out."

Joey blushed profusely. "Um, okay," he said. He put some more oil on his fingers and slowly stuck one inside of Atem's hole. He added more fingers once he thought Atem was more stretched out. The blond then rubbed more of the oil on his own erect penis and then took a deep breath. "I guess it's time to really do this." As gently as he could, which was a little difficult to do seeing as he was not small in size, he slid the head inside of the smaller boy, looking to see if he was hurting Atem. "Are you okay?"

Atem let out a barely-stifled noise as he suddenly felt Joey slip one finger into him, wincing slightly and clenching the bedsheets as Joey slipped another finger in to stretch him out. His breaths came out in short puffs, his face flushed as he used his pillow to muffle any noise that he made, both out of embarrassment and out of a desire to not draw attention to their room. Just as he'd adjusted to the feeling of Joey's fingers inside of him, they were suddenly gone, and he braced himself for what he knew would come next, letting out another quiet noise as he felt Joey begin to push into him. "I-I'm fine... keep going...," he urged, his body flushed and trembling from an odd mixture of unfamiliar pain and pleasure.

"Well, if you're sure..." Joey pushed all the way in, grunting a little at the effort of fitting into the tight hole. He then pulled out and adding some more oil to his erection before putting it back in, not being quite as gentle this time. The blond gripped Atem's thighs, thrusting in and out of him, at first slowly but then gradually getting faster.

Atem let out a drawn out moan as Joey pushed all the way into him, gripping the bedsheets and squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to adjust to the feeling of Joey's length inside of him. He shivered when Joey pulled out, his breathing labored as he waited in anticipation moments before Joey pushed back into him and began to thrust. "J-Joey...!" He tried and failed to keep quiet as the pleasure nearly overwhelmed him, already feeling close to climaxing as he moved his hips in time with Joey's thrusts.

Joey couldn't keep from moaning as well as he picked up speed. Suddenly he pulled out, repositioning them so that Atem was facing him on his lap. He then gripped either side of his ass and moved him up and down on top of his erection. This new position made it so he could look Atem in the face and he pulled him into a long, deep kiss.

Atem let out a startled cry when Joey suddenly pulled out and turned him over, groaning as he slid down onto Joey's erection and moving up and down along with the blond's movements. He wrapped his arms around Joey, holding on to him and eagerly kissing back as he continued moving against him.

Joey reached down and grabbed hold of Atem's erection, pumping his hand up and down with their movements. "I don't know how much longer I can hold back," he gashed, about to reach his limit.

"M-me either," Atem replied shakily, his breathing labored as noises of pleasure slipped out with every movement of Joey's erection inside of him and every movement of Joey's hand against his own erection. "I'm... c-close... ah!" He arched into Joey's hand as he hit his climax hard, releasing against him with a drawn out moan before collapsing against Joey's chest, his body flushed and trembling with lingering pleasure as he tried to catch his breath.

Joey came very soon after Atem did, gripping onto Atem's waist tightly as he released with a rather loud moan. He pulled out then flopped down on his back on the bed, Atem on top of his chest. "I'm exhausted, but that was amazing," he remarked, reaching down to stroke Atem's hair affectionately.

Atem shivered and moaned quietly as he felt Joey release inside of him before pulling out, and he let Joey pull him down to lay on his chest, nuzzling against him with a lazy smile as he felt the fingers running through his hair. "Mm... that really was amazing...," he murmured in response. "I don't think I've ever felt that good before..." His smile widened slightly as he trailed his lips along Joey's chest and all the way up to Joey's lips. "I'm glad we got to share our first time together."

Joey felt completely relaxed now, all his worries were gone and he was just quietly enjoying the moment, enjoying being close to the one he loved. "Yeah," the blond murmured. He saw how close Atem was to his lips and took the opportunity to give him a quick kiss. "Now you need to get some more rest," Joey said, ruffling the pharaoh's spiky tri-colored hair. "You're still not fully recovered from that poison, right?" He wrapped his arms around Atem, snuggling down to fall asleep with him again.

Atem closed his eyes with a pleased hum as their lips connected, smiling as Joey ruffled his hair and snuggling against him in return. "'m fine, don't worry," he mumbled, yawning and curling up in Joey's arms as he started dozing off. "Th' medicine took care've everything, 's all gone now... I think."

"That's good to hear," Joey said, continuing to stroke Atem's hair. He let out a yawn that was louder than the young pharaoh's was. "Time for some more sleep," he murmured before pulling the blanket over the two of them. Both of them had completely forgotten about the clothes they had left scattered all over the place.


	8. Chapter 8 FINAL

Atem and Joey spent the next week by each other's sides, the knowledge that their time together was running out lingering in the backs of their minds no matter how much they tried not to focus on it. Still, putting the matter aside could only work for so long, and before both of them knew it, it was their last day together before Joey would return to his time...

"Let's go out, Joey." The suggestion was as abrupt as the hand that reached out and grasped the blond's, the young pharaoh looking up at his lover with an expression that only just barely hid his desperation. "There's a festival going on in town to celebrate the night of the sow swallowing the moon, and there will be stalls and games and food and music... It will be much better than staying here and waiting." Though staying and waiting would admittedly be the safer choice—after all, if they were even one second too late, Joey wouldn't be able to return home for another two to three years (which Atem would say that he didn't mind if he could allow himself to be selfish for a moment, which he couldn't... Joey didn't belong in this time, as much as he wanted the blond to stay with him).

"Sure, sounds like fun, anything that lets me be with you." Joey leaned down and gave Atem a quick kiss on the lips. "Let's make the most of what little time we have left." The blond was feeling the pressure of their impending parting, but he was trying to stay positive nonetheless.

Atem couldn't help but smile at Joey's sweet statement, kissing back as Joey's lips pressed against his own. "Yes... we should make the best of our time together." Atem wasted no time in leading Joey out to the stables, getting them a horse and hoisting himself up onto its back, waiting for Joey to do the same behind him before setting off for the town.

Joey hopped on the horse behind Atem, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy's waist. "So what are we going to do at this festival? Hmm?" The blond knew he was pushing it showing so much affection in public, but this was his last evening with Atem, he didn't care.

Atem smiled as he felt Joey's arms wrapped around him, leaning back against his chest in return as he spoke. "We can get food, play games..." 'Make memories' was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't bring himself to say it—it would be just another reminder of what little time the two of them had left. He slowed his horse down to a trot once they reached the town, dismounting and leading the horse over to where a few other horses were tethered before turning his attention back to Joey. "Pick whichever stall catches your eye and we'll start there."

Joey's eyes rested on a food stall right off the bat. "Can we go there?" The blond always seemed to be hungry and the smells coming from the stall were very mouth-watering and tempting.

Atem couldn't help but laugh-even with their imminent separation looming on the horizon, Joey was still Joey, and as always his appetite was near insatiable. "Of course," he replied, taking Joey's hand and walking towards the food stall. "You can buy as much food as you want."

"And this time no one is gonna hurt you!" Joey hugged Atem, a little bit awkwardly, to his side. "Not while I'm around anyway." The last part came out quieter with a hint of sadness. Even though he was trying, Joey was finding it hard to forget about the fact that this was their last night together.

Atem's expression softened, and he leaned against Joey as the blond hugged him. "Thank you—I know you won't let anything happen to me," he replied, taking Joey's hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. He caught the last part but decided not to comment on it—this was something that was weighing heavily on both of their minds, but he saw no sense in spending their last day together feeling depressed when they could be spending it making fond memories. "So, which food did you want to get?" he asked as they reached the food stall, figuring that a nice, full meal would help lift the blond's spirits a bit.

"Anything would be good really." Joey wasn't all that picky when it came to food. He pointed to the first food item that caught his eye. "That one." The blond had chosen a loaf of sweet smelling bread. "What foods do you like anyway? I hardly see you eat much of anything." Joey ate like a horse though so it was a little hard to compare their eating habits.

Atem bought some of the bread for the two of them, shrugging with a small smile in response to his question. "I will often eat whatever I'm given, so I don't have any particular preferences... I just don't eat very much in general, that's why you hardly see me eat much of anything." He handed one of the loaves to Joey, taking a bite of the other loaf and eating it before asking, "Have any other stands caught your attention?"

Joey looked around the place, trying to find something fun to do together with Atem. An archery game where you shot a target to win prizes caught his attention. "That one," he pointed to it.

Atem took another bite of his loaf of bread, looking over where Joey pointed and smiling as he saw the game stand. "That looks good to me. Let's finish eating and head over there."

Joey took a few shots at the archery game, he hit two out of three but soon got bored with it and wandered off to look at something else. Without realizing it, he found himself separated from Atem. He looked around, but even with Atem's very distinctive hair, he couldn't spot him anywhere.

Atem stepped up to try the game when Joey moved aside, his focus narrowed to the targets—archery wasn't his forte, but a game was a game regardless, and so he fired off each shot without missing the mark even once, his serious expression melting into a smile as he accepted his prize. "Sorry for the wait, J—" He cut off with a frown, his brows knitting together in confusion and worry as he didn't see Joey anywhere. This isn't good... we can't afford to get separated at a time like this.

Atem wandered around, weaving through the crowd as he searched for any signs of a familiar head of blond hair. What he didn't expect was for a hand to suddenly reach out from a nearby alleyway, roughly grabbing him and covering his mouth as something jabbed into the side of his neck, knocking him out and unwittingly cutting the rope that held the pharaoh's puzzle around his neck. The golden necklace remained on the ground in the shadow of the alleyway as the pharaoh was carried off, his captors binding and gagging him before tossing him into the back of a cart with a small group of other young captives. With the sounds of the festival as a cover, the criminals led the cart through the town towards its exit.

Joey was getting a little frantic, he had searched the entire festival grounds and still there was no sign of the young boy. As a last resort, the blond tried looking down the alleyways, just in case Atem had wandered down one of them. What he found made his heart stop. The Millennium Puzzle lay on the ground of the alley, the rope attached to it cut in half. There was no way the pharaoh would leave something so important abandoned in the dirt. Joey picked up the Puzzle and dusted it off. This was serious, someone must have taken Atem.

…

Atem groaned as he slowly regained consciousness, wincing at the pain in his head and the aches and bruises on his body. _Where...?_ He cracked an eye open, his heart dropping as he realized that he had no idea where he was—and furthermore, he was bound and gagged, the ropes around his wrists and ankles preventing him from moving. His eyes narrowed, and he took a breath in before letting it out slowly behind the gag, trying to stay calm and think back to what happened.

 _I was at the festival with Joey, and then we got separated... so I was kidnapped, then? Since I was taken alive instead of killed, I'm assuming my captors either didn't know who I was, or they did and their aim was to get some sort of ransom..._ Atem frowned, just barely making out the silhouettes of other children around him. _There would be no need for other people to be taken if I were kidnapped for ransom, though, so... slave traders, perhaps?_ He tensed up as someone entered the room, grabbing one of the struggling children and dragging them out before closing the door again. _I have to get out of here, and fast—I need to be at the ceremony to help send Joey back home, and I don't even know how long I've been here for... but I'm sure we're running out of time. I just hope Joey is safe and didn't get captured too..._

 _…_

Joey was very worried about what might have happened to his friend. His first thought was to go and search for the boy by himself, but he had no idea where to even start looking. The festival was a big place and Atem could have been taken practically anywhere. Joey used his head for once and thought of a much more logical course of action: to go back to the palace and get Mahaad to help him locate the missing pharaoh.

Mahaad frowned as he searched the palace halls for the pharaoh and his blond-haired friend-though he wasn't surprised that the two had sneaked off somewhere, he had at least hoped that they hadn't gone far, especially considering how the spell needed to be performed in just a few hours, and it couldn't be done without the pharaoh's puzzle (and more importantly, without the boy that was supposed to be going home through the use of the spell in the first place). Thankfully, he'd prepared everything well in advance, knowing that he would need a bit of cushion time in case anything went wrong-though he had no idea just how wrong things were about to go...

"Priest Mahaad! The pharaoh's servant is at the front gates and requesting your presence, sir! He says it's urgent!"

Mahaad's heart dropped at the guard's words, a feeling of foreboding washing over him as he gripped his Millennium Ring, and he wasted no time in following the guard out to meet the blond, the sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach worsening as he saw the blond holding the pharaoh's puzzle with an anxious expression on his face. "Where is the pharaoh?" he asked as soon as their eyes met, getting straight to the point so as not to waste any time.

Joey hung his head in shame. "Well, I honestly don't know. We were at the festival and got separated. I found the Puzzle in an alley and have no idea where Atem is. My best guess is that he was taken by someone." The blond was really beating himself up over this whole thing. It really was his fault for the whole mess...if only they hadn't have gone to the festival this would never have happened.

Mahaad clenched the Millennium Ring tightly in his hands, hardly even paying attention to the fact that he was breaking skin on the sharp edges. "You not only snuck out of the palace, but allowed the pharaoh to get kidnapped?" he hissed, using all of his willpower to keep his voice down so as not to cause a panic. "... Gods, of all the times..." He took a breath, letting it out slowly and shaking his head slightly before speaking once more. "I will go and search for the pharaoh, but I can't guarantee that we will make it back in time to send you home." Eyeing the puzzle, he reluctantly added, "Or we could wait and perform the ceremony, but we would risk the captors getting too far away to be tracked."

Joey balled his hands into fists, a determined look on his face. "This is my fault so there is no way I'm going home without finding him first. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't know he was safe." Even if it meant being stuck here forever with Atem, Joey was finding it hard to imagine life without his friend.

Mahaad nodded in approval—at least the boy was taking responsibility for his irresponsible actions. "Very well then—let's hurry. The longer we wait, the further away they'll get, and the less of a chance we'll have of getting back in time to perform the ceremony." With that, he ordered one of the guards to fetch his horse, getting on it as soon as it was brought to him and waiting until Joey remounted his own horse before focusing his magic on trying to track down the pharaoh—it was significantly more difficult when Atem didn't have the puzzle, since the millennium items were naturally drawn to one another and thus tracking him would have been simple, but Mahaad wasn't known as Egypt's most powerful magician for nothing. Without warning, he set off the very second he caught a trace of Atem's _Ba_ , sparing a second to make sure that Joey was keeping up behind him before returning his focus to the small trace of energy that he was following.

Joey tied the severed ends of the Millennium Puzzle's rope back together and slipped the gold object over his neck before mounting his horse and following after Mahaad at a gallop. He was quiet; there really wasn't anything he could say. Mahaad was obviously, and rightly, furious with him. The blond only hoped they could find Atem before something horrible happened to him.

Mahaad kept riding with no signs of stopping or slowing down, his heart briefly lifting in relief when he felt Atem's _Ba_ growing the slightest bit stronger. _We must be getting close..._ He kept his eyes peeled for anyone or anything suspicious, and before long he was able to spot caravans in the distance. "That has to be it, I feel the pharaoh's _Ba_ from that direction!" Instead of charging straight in (like part of him admittedly wanted to do), he wisely decided to force his horse to a stop while gesturing for Joey to do the same. "If we act rashly, we could put the pharaoh's life in danger—more so than you already have," he added with a touch of anger in his tone, making it clear that he still wasn't all too pleased about Joey getting the pharaoh into life-threatening situations not once, but twice already. As he tied up his horse, he continued to speak. "We need to act quickly and quietly, so don't do anything unnecessary. Is that understood?"

Joey gulped, nodding and following behind the magician. He warily tried to be as quiet and inconspicuous as he could. He really didn't want to do anything to make this situation any worse. Though judging by how he'd screwed up so badly already, Joey didn't really have all that much hope of not doing anything stupid again.

Mahaad silently made his way towards the caravans with Joey in tow, frowning when he sensed just how many people's _Ba_ there were. He ran through all of the spells that he knew in his mind, picking out the ones that would best help get the pharaoh back and get the three of them out of here safely as the two of them snuck around, Mahaad following the pull of Atem's _Ba_ to a larger caravan towards the back. The high priest came to a stop with a frown when he saw how many people were surrounding the caravan, his frown deepening into a disgusted scowl when he realized that this was the group that had been stealing high-class children from all across Egypt, selling them off to the highest bidder to the sleaziest of men. With that in mind, he already had some idea of what he would find when he went inside, and though it made him sick to his stomach, he at least knew that he would be able to stay composed—unlike the blond behind him, who would no doubt do something stupid that would just get them surrounded and captured.

 _So why not have him do something stupid to make a distraction instead?_ It was a bit cruel to make him the decoy to attract the attention of so many people, but if Joey wanted to take responsibility for getting Atem into this mess to begin with, then this was the least he could do. "You still have the pharaoh's DiaDhank, correct?" Mahaad asked as he glanced back at Joey, though the question was rhetorical as he glanced at the metal band around the boy's wrist. "Use it to summon your Ka and draw all of those people away from the caravan—I will go inside and bring the pharaoh out, and if all goes well we should be back at the palace just in time to perform the ritual." Of course, Mahaad knew that it was rare for anything to go just as planned—especially when dealing with this troublemaking blond—so he wouldn't be surprised if this entire plan ended up blowing up in their faces somehow.

Joey blinked. It took him a moment to remember that that was the name of the contraption on his wrist. "Oh, right, that sounds like a good idea." He lifted his arm and summoned the glaring black dragon. "Come on, Red-Eyes, let's save Atem!" Red-Eyes let out a loud roar and whipped his tail a little too far and knocked over one of the tents of the caravan.

Mahaad couldn't help but roll his eyes despite the seriousness of the moment as he watched the blond already start to bring about chaos within a few seconds of summoning his _Ka_. Luckily, he had the foresight to use his magic to bring himself a short distance away just as Joey was summoning his _Ka_ , hiding in the shadows as people rushed out with weapons to try and take down the 'beast' that suddenly appeared.

Once the area was clear, he focused on tracing Atem's _Ba_ once more, slipping into one of the caravans and grimacing at the sight of small cages lining the inside. _This is horrible, they're being treated like animals... I have to find the prince and get him out of this place at once._ It took Mahaad only another minute or two to find Atem's _Ba_ amongst the _Ba_ of all the other young children crammed into the small caravan, but once he did he felt like throwing up. Seeing his young, innocent pharaoh chained up, stripped of everything but a small bit of cloth providing him with the bare minimum of modesty, dirtied, bruised, bleeding, and unconscious...

Mahaad took a shaky breath, forcing himself to not rush off and find the person who was responsible for this in order to drag the bastard back to the palace and have him tortured for the rest of his miserable life—right now he needed to focus on rescuing Atem and getting him and Joey back to the palace as quickly as possible. With that in mind, he got to work with getting the cage open, letting out a relieved sigh as it put up less resistance than he thought it would and immediately throwing the door open as soon as the lock was taken care of. "Pharaoh... my prince, I'm here to bring you home. Please wake up..." _If he doesn't wake up... then by the gods' names, there will be hell to pay._

Atem was distantly aware of a familiar voice calling out to him, and he groaned as he forced himself to return to consciousness, grimacing as a wave of pain reminded him of why he'd chosen to let himself fall unconscious in the first place. "Ma... haad...?" he murmured, forcing his eyes open and letting out a relieved breath as he just barely managed to make out the familiar figure of his old friend. "Where's Joey...? Is he safe...?"

"My lord, with all due respect, I believe you should be worrying about your own well-being instead of asking about the one who got you into this mess in the first place," Mahaad responded wryly despite his relief as he carefully helped Atem out of the cage. "But yes, he's safe." As if on cue, there was a loud blast from outside, and Mahaad grimaced in response. "Safe, and as reckless as ever—he's providing a distraction so we can escape, so let's not put his efforts to waste." With that, he carefully lifted the young pharaoh into his arms and slipped out of the caravan, sending a silent apology to the young children that he was forced to leave behind—it didn't sit right with him, but they were running low on time as it was, and if he tried to rescue them all then they would never make it back to the palace on time. "Joey!" he called out to the blond once he was within earshot. "I have him; let's go!"

Joey just barely heard Mahaad's call and put Red-Eyes back into the DiaDhank on his arm. He sprinted towards the magician and the battered pharaoh, dodging people as best he could. Once he got closer he saw just how beat up Atem was. "Who the hell did this?!" he demanded, ready to fight whoever it was then and there.

"If I knew who did this I would have taken care of them myself," the high priest responded with a frown. "But regardless, we don't have much time—take the pharaoh and get on your horse; we're returning to the palace at once." In all honesty, he would have preferred to be the one keeping hold of the pharaoh, but he knew that the two of them had very limited time left, and even in his battered up state Joey had been the first one that Atem asked for... so as his friend Mahaad could at least let them have these final moments together, though he was sure that it wasn't the most pleasant of moments for either of them.

Joey gently took Atem in his arms, trying his best to not hurt him anymore than he already was. "I'd find those bastards who did this to you and beat the crap out of them, but we really need to get going if I'm going to go home." He said this quite sadly, he really didn't want to go home right now. Not with Atem in this state. It would be horrible to leave on such a bad note. Even so, Joey knew that he really did need to get home. He didn't belong in this time. Still his heart hurt thinking about how he'd never see his friend and lover again.

Atem couldn't even remember when he'd fallen unconscious, but he was relieved to find that the first thing that he heard upon returning to consciousness was Joey's voice. Cracking an eye open, he looked up at his lover, a small, sad smile working its way onto his face as he processed what Joey was saying. "It's okay," he murmured, leaning his head against Joey's chest. "I thought I wasn't going to get to see you again... so I'm happy just with this."

The young pharaoh didn't want to think about not being able to see Joey ever again, but... well, he had a strong belief in the gods and in reincarnation, so perhaps if he was lucky enough, the gods might answer his prayers and allow him to be reborn into Joey's time, so the two could live out their days together as a normal couple. For now, though, Atem just had to focus on staying conscious so he could help see Joey back home—he would worry about what came after that once the blond was safe and sound back in his own time.

Joey urged his horse to go as fast as it could back to the palace. He had a giant lump in his throat as he carefully set Atem down on the ground near where the ritual would be performed. "Do we really want to do this?" The blond was having second thoughts about the whole thing. What if it didn't work at all? What if it killed him, or worse?

Atem held on as best as he could for the entire ride, wincing at each bump but forcing himself to remain silent. He forced himself to his feet once he was set down, nodding his thanks to Mahaad when his old friend draped a robe over his shoulders and helped him into it. "We have no choice," he responded, meeting Joey's eyes firmly. "As much as I wish that you could stay here... you do not belong in this time. The longer you stay here for, the more you put your future-your home, your friends, your family-at risk." Atem reluctantly reached out and took his puzzle back from Joey, feeling its power flowing through him the moment it came to sit against his chest, allowing him to stand and breathe a bit more easily. "We only have a few minutes left-Mahaad, is everything ready?"

"Yes, my lord, all the preparations were finished this morning," Mahaad responded, tactfully withholding any scalding comments regarding the couple's disappearance-he knew that the two had only been trying to spend their last few hours together doing something fun, and that neither of them had planned on Atem getting kidnapped. He instructed the rest of the high priests on where to stand and what to do, giving Atem and Joey one last minute of privacy.

Atem took one last chance to press a kiss to Joey's lips before pulling away with a sad smile, gripping the blond's hands in his own. "I won't ask that you remember me when you return, or think of me... just be happy. If you can live the rest of your days happily, surrounded by the people you care about, then that thought alone will be enough to see me through the rest of my days."

"But how can I forget you, after all we're done and been through?" Joey returned their last kiss, wishing it would last longer, but knowing that it couldn't and that he really did need to return to his time. He gave Atem's hand one last squeeze before letting go of it and stepping back. "Okay, let's do this. What do I need to do?" He stood determinedly, putting on a brave face.

Atem's expression softens in obvious gratitude. "Thank you, that means a lot to me... and I will never forget you for as long as I live." He reluctantly let go of Joey's hand before going to stand in position on the outer edge of the circle, waiting for Mahaad to begin the spell.

Mahaad gestured for Joey to stand in the center of the circle, where the bag that he'd arrived with was waiting. "All you need to do is stand in the center and focus on the things that remind you of home-the stronger your will is, the more chance that the spell will be a success, so try not to get distracted," he added wryly, before moving closer to Joey and speaking quietly. "I put a scroll in your bag-when you return to your time, give it to the bearer of the Millennium Puzzle." Without giving any further explanation, Mahaad moved over to his own spot on the outer edge of the circle, glancing up at the sky and gripping his Millennium Ring. "Just a few seconds left; everyone, get ready!"

Joey did as he was told and stood in the center of the circle. He picked the bag up and clenched it tightly in his hands. He closed his eyes and thought about home; about Yugi, and Tristan, and Téa, and all his other friends. Using every little ounce of self-control he had, he didn't think about Atem and thought only about everything and everyone at home. The blond was trying so hard that a tear escaped his eyes. This really was the end.

Atem closed his eyes, focusing on drawing forth the power of the Millennium Puzzle at Mahaad's command. _Gods... please let this work! Please return Joey to his own time!_ There was a large flash of light and raw energy, one that nearly sent him and the high priests flying backwards, but they all held their ground until the energy finally died down. Feeling exhausted and drained, Atem cracked an eye open, both relief and grief hitting him simultaneously as he saw that Joey and his belongings were gone, as if he'd never been there in the first place. The young pharaoh collapsed to his knees, ignoring the worried shouts from his high priests as he stared blankly ahead with a sad smile and tears rolling down his cheeks. _Goodbye, Joey... and may the gods be kind enough to let us meet again someday..._

 _..._

Tristan wandered the streets, his worry evident by the dark circles under his eyes and the stiffness of his gait. Four days-it had been four days since Joey had gone missing, and between Tristan, Téa, and Yugi, they'd searched every last inch of the city to no avail. _God damn it Joey... where the hell did you go...?_ The brunet ran a hand through his hair in frustration, blinking in bewilderment when he found himself standing in front of the Domino City Museum. _This is... where the Ancient Egyptian exhibit is, isn't it...?_ Ever since getting involved with Yugi, it seemed as if they were constantly surrounded by supernatural happenings with their roots in Ancient Egypt. Something in his gut told him to give the museum one last look-they'd already searched there, of course, but on the off-chance that Joey somehow found his way there... Shrugging to himself, Tristan pushed the museum doors open, frowning when he saw how empty it was despite being the middle of the day.

 _Something doesn't feel right...!_ There was a sudden flash of light, and he brought an arm up to shield his eyes before rushing towards the source of the light as soon as he could see. "That's..." He slowed to a stop in shock when he found himself nearing the large, Ancient Egyptian tablet depicting Yami's ancient past-but it wasn't the tablet that stopped him; rather, it was the familiar blond lying unconscious in front of the tablet that drew him to a halt. "Joey...?" Tristan stared in shock for a moment, taking in the blond's odd clothing and battered up state before snapping himself out of it and rushing towards his friend. "Joey! Hey, Joey, wake up!" He scrambled for his cell phone, pulling it out of his pocket and calling Yugi. "Yugi, it's Tristan-I found Joey! Tell Téa and head over to the museum; we're inside!" Once he hung up, he turned his attention back to his unconscious friend, falling into thought as he waited for the blond to wake up. _Joey... what the hell happened to you...?_

Joey blinked his eyes open slowly, gradually becoming aware of Tristan looking down at him. "Huh, what?" He went to sit up and a stabbing pain filled his head. Traveling through time and space was painful, apparently. "Tristan?" The blond held onto his head as he slowly sat up. "So I made it back," he said out loud to himself. He couldn't help a note of sadness coming out as he said it. So he really wouldn't see Atem again, he'd been dead for thousands of years now.

Tristan immediately reached out and helped the blond sit up, taking note of his murmured observation but not voicing any of his questions for the moment-he'd wait until the others showed up so Joey wouldn't have to explain himself twice. "I'm glad you're alright... you've had us all worried sick, you know-disappearing for a few days without telling anyone is no joke." Frowning slightly, he added, "Yugi and Téa are on their way right now, so when they get here you'd better have one hell of a good explanation for where you were-and for why you're dressed like that, for that matter."

"It's not like I chose to disappear...and huh, it's only been four days? For me it's been a lot longer..." A lifetime even with all that had happened to him. It wasn't every day that you fell in love like that.

"And how much longer is 'a lot longer'?" Tristan asked, before shaking his head. "Never mind, forget it—it'll be better to just wait until Yugi and Téa get here before you start explaining things." As if on cue, he heard people approaching, and he looked up to see their two friends rushing towards them wearing matching expressions of relief upon seeing Joey safe and sound.

Joey gave his two friends a weak smile. "Hi, guys, been awhile." Joey didn't have the strength to stand just yet so he stayed on the floor. It was a wonder that no one in the museum had taken note of his strange arrival and attire yet.

Yugi couldn't help but tear up in relief as he saw Joey, rushing over to him and hugging him. "Joey... We were all so worried! What happened to you? Where were you? And... what are you wearing?" he added with a curious expression when he pulled away and properly took notice of his friend's odd attire. Thankfully the museum seemed to be fairly empty, otherwise he was sure that Joey's clothing would have attracted plenty of attention to say the least—heck, some people might have even thought he was one of the displays come to life with how similar those clothes looked to the ones on the tablet they were in front of!

Joey finally managed to find the strength to stand. "Um, Yugi, can I talk to your other self, in private, for a bit?" Joey would tell his friends what had happened to him, but he thought it best to keep it a little quieter about his relationship with the ancient pharaoh.

Yugi's brows furrowed in confusion. "Ah, sure... Hold on, I'll switch with him."

Yami switched places with Yugi, blinking in a mixture of curiosity and worry. "Is something wrong, Joey?" he asked once Tristan and Téa left, promising to wait outside for them.

"Um, maybe this scroll thing Mahaad gave me will help..." Joey handed the scroll that the magician had put in his bag to Yami.

"'Mahaad'...?" For some reason, the name seemed familiar, yet no matter how much he tried to remember, all that came to mind was a faint blur and a feeling of comfortable familiarity. The nameless pharaoh hesitated at the sight of the scroll, sensing the magic contained within even without touching it—yet something told him that it was safe, and so he decided to trust his gut and take the scroll in hand, unrolling it curiously and reading over the foreign yet familiar pictures on the parchment. He started when magic began flowing from the scroll, resonating with the puzzle around his neck and flowing into him—and with the magic came images, sounds... _Memories...! These are memories of... me and Joey...?_

Yami wasn't even aware that he'd momentarily blacked out until he found himself kneeling on the floor, the parchment clutched tightly in his trembling hands and tears rolling down his cheeks. "I... remember...," he breathed out, before looking up at Joey with a smile that was both nervous and elated. "Joey, I remember everything... including... _us_." The only thing that he couldn't remember, frustratingly enough, was his own name—it was as if every instance of his name that was mentioned in the memories was blocked, but though he knew finding his name was important, right now it was the last thing on his mind.

"You do? Everything?" Joey asked, blushing a little at the memories of their more intimate moments. This was more than he could have hoped for. He thought it would just go back to the way it was before he was sent back in time. But now, could he and Yami just continue where he had let off with the pharaoh?

Yami nodded, feeling his own face heating up as well. "Yeah, everything...," he replied, glancing away in embarrassment. "I, well... I won't claim to be the same person as I was back then—as I am now, well... I'm quite literally just a shadow of my former self, without a name or form of my own—but if you would have me... my feelings for you remain unchanged."

Joey reached down and took Yami's chin in his hand. "Me too, I...I love you." The blond gave the shorter boy a kiss. It felt a little different from his kisses with the pharaoh, he was a different person after all, but he did share the same memories of their time together. That was good enough for Joey. He felt strangely at peace in this moment, now that he was reunited with his lover.

Yami's blush darkened as Joey gently grasped his chin, yet he couldn't help but smile. "I love you too," he murmured, moments before their lips connected—and suddenly it felt as if everything was right in the world, as if a part of himself that he hadn't even known was missing had finally returned to him. Yes, there were still plenty of trials ahead of them, and of course being together like this would only add to their troubles... but for now, Yami was here with his lover and his best friend, and that was all that mattered.

~THE END~


End file.
